By Henry Omunu, Abuja
The Inspector –General of Police, Ibrahim KpotunIdris turns 60 years tomorrow and by extant service rules, he ought to exit his position as the nation’s number one police officer having served for 35 years in the police and reaching the mandatory years of retirement.
However, anxiety and uncertainty surrounds his departure as the Presidency has been sending discordant tunes as to whether he will vacate the exalted office or his tenure will be elongated as is been speculated in some quarters.
Born on January 15, 1959 in Niger state, Idris enlisted into the police force on January 3, 1984 and became the nation’s 19th police inspector general following his appointment to the post by President MuhammaduBuhari, on March 21, 2016. He replaced Solomon Arase, who retired on June 21, 2016.
The Federal Public Service Rules 2009, Rule 020810 (ii) states that “the compulsory retirement age for all grades in the service shall be 60 years or 35 years of pensionable service whichever is earlier.” It states further that “no officer shall be allowed to remain in service after attaining the retirement age of 60 years or 35 years of pensionable service whichever is earlier.”
But since January 3, when Idris attained the mandatory 35 years in service, the Buhari administration has engaged in a cat and mouse game, with agents of government justifying the silence of the Presidency in publicly speaking out on the fate of the police chief while those opposed to his continued stay in office have been strident in opposing what they perceived as attempts to extend his tenure ahead of the general elections as a reward for his partisanship in administering the police force.
Information and Culture Minister, AlhajiLai Mohammed, reacting to calls for the administration to announce its stance on the possibility of extending the tenure of Idris or naming a successor, said the controversy was an unnecessary because both former Presidents OlusegunObasanjo and late UmaruYar’Aduahad set the precedent by extending the tenures of Sunday Ehindero and Mike Okiro respectively.
While Ehindero did serve until his 61st birthday in 2007, Okiro retired on July 24, 2009, at his 60thbirthday.
As at press time, no official statement has been issued by the Presidency to douse the palpable anxiety within the top hierarchy of the police.
According to one of the groups agitating for the appointment of a new police chief, the Network on Police Reform in Nigeria (NOPRIN) advised President Buhari to resist the pressure to extend Idris’s tenure as IG the same way he did for the other service chiefson December 18, 2017.
National Coordinator of NOPRIN, Mr. OkechukwuNwaguma charged the President to demonstrate his avowed sincerity and commitment to the promise of delivering free, fair and peaceful election by resisting the pressure to extend the term of Idris.
He opined that not a few Nigerians are convinced that, given recent events and conducts of the inspector general, he has manifested clear partisanship, thereby raising significant concerns about the February general elections.
Others pressurizing the President to urgently name Idris’ replacement are appealing to him to look beyond the North, since nearly all heads of security agencies in the country are from the region. This they argued will lay to rest, accusations of nepotism levelled against his administration.
Already, the Action Peoples Party (APP) and the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) have instituted legal action against the President over the purported moves to extend the IGP’s tenure.
Whether the President will end the speculation surrounding the top most office of the nation’s police force for now remains a matter of conjecture between hawks in the administration who favour a tenure extension and opponents of the move who want to see the back of Idris.
