A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, Mike Ozekhome has picked holes in the appointment of Usman Alkali Baba as the new acting Inspector General of Police, IGP.
On Tuesday, President Muhammadu Buhari had appointed Mr Baba as the new acting police boss, replacing Mohammed Adamu whose tenure was extended for three months.
Issuing a statement on Tuesday titled: ‘Buhari’s Northernisation of Nigeria Police’, Mr Ozekhome described the appointment as illegal and unconstitutional.
According to Mr Ozekhome, Mr Baba’s appointment negated provisions of Federal Character as enshrined in the 1999 constitution, as amended.
He lamented that the appointment of Mr Baba, a northern Muslim, as acting inspector-general of police, to replace Adamu Mohammed, another northern Muslim.
He said: “With Muhammad Maigari Dingyadi, another northern Muslim as the minister of police affairs, the circle of policing in Nigeria is complete.
“Of course, Buhari controls the police by virtues of sections 214, 215 and 216 of the 1999 Constitution. It is the same situation with the ministry of petroleum resources and NNPC, the entire security architecture of Nigeria, and other key sectors and commanding heights of the economy.
“The illogical and puerile argument is always that the president only appoints people he can trust and that such persons are qualified in any event. That argument is insulting and insensitive to the intelligence, sensibilities and plurality of Nigeria.
“Can’t President Muhammadu Buhari for once, just for once, in his opaque appointments look beyond his religion and immediate and forsake sectionalism, cronyism, prebendalism, tribalism, favouritism, and act as a true statesman?
“Is he truly saying he cannot trust any of the other over 15 million Nigerians who voted for him, or that he cannot find any of them that is qualified to be made an IGP?”
