The Integrity Youth Alliance, an organisation that has been monitoring the development trends in the Nigeria Police Force for over 15 years, has said there is no palpable tension in the Nigeria Police over rife speculations of President Bola Tinubu’s alleged endorsement of a Commissioner of Police to succeed the incumbent Inspector-General of Police, IGP Kayode Egbetokun.
Responding to a publication by an online medium, The Supreme, the Board Chairman of the Alliance, Comrade Adewole Kehinde, said that Section 7(2) of the Police Act 2020 is self-explanatory. It states that “the person to be appointed as Inspector-General of Police shall be a senior police officer not below the rank of an Assistant Inspector-General of Police with the requisite academic qualifications of not less than a first degree or its equivalent in addition to professional and management experience.”.Â
“We should also not forget that the appointment of an Inspector General of Police is political. The Nigeria Police Act 2020, specifically Section 7, subsection (6), dictates that the IGP serves a four-year term.
“It is on record that the National Police Council approved and confirmed the appointment of IGP Kayode Egbetokun as substantive Inspector-General of Police on October 31, 2023, and based on Section 7, subsection (6) of the Nigeria Police Act 2020, IGP Egbetokun has 3 more years in office, Adewole said.
“We, therefore, call on the general public to disregard the sponsored publication in the Supreme while calling on the Inspector General of Police, IGP Egbetokun, to continue his vision of having a police force that is professionally competent, service-driven, rule of law-compliant, and people-friendly, the statement concluded.
