Renowned activist, lawyer and pro-democracy campaigner, Deji Adeyanju has faulted the continued stay of the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun in office despite attaining the retirement age of 60 years.
Many Nigerians have been calling on Egbetokun to honourably retire from office having clocked the mandatory 60 years for retirement and allow other police officers to rise. Some have also described him as an ‘illegal IGP’.
However, The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, has affirmed Egdespite’s continued stay in office, saying it is legal.
In a statement he signed and released on Thursday, Fagbemi clarified that Egbetokun’s tenure remains valid under the provisions of the newly amended Police Act, which allows an Inspector General of Police to serve a full four-year term irrespective of the retirement age.
In a statement on his Facebook page on Saturday, Adeyanju said the position of the Nigerian constitution on tenure of civil servants and the civil service rules must be adhered to.
“The constitution is clear & this is backed by the civil service rules that once you attain the age of 60yrs or served for 35yrs, you must go but Egbetokun the illegal IGP remains in office despite exceeding his retirement age. They want to change the law for the Yoruba IGP”.
Adeyanju who insisted that Egbetokun must vacate office however cautioned Nigerians to show respect for the office of the IGP.
“While we criticize Egbetokun for his unconstitutional & illegal stay in office, we must however accord the office of the IGP some respect lest we become like him and his palace clowns who are ridiculing the police. These folks have no respect for the constitution or the police” .
