…As Minister confirms release of 4-year tenure letter to IGP
…Says age cannot alter Police Act 2020
…IGP orders distribution of Revised Standard Operational Guidelines on election security duties
The Federal Government (FG) has said the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Usman Baba, will not be retire amid the 2023 General Elections.
Although he would turn 60 years on March 1, 2023, falling within a timeframe before the end of the General Elections slated to last between February 25 and March 11, the Federal Government said he now has a four-year tenure approved by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The Minister of Police Affairs, Mohammed Dingyadi, made the disclosure on Wednesday, following concerns about possible retirement of the IGP amidst the 2023 elections.
Baba would turn 60 on March 1, 2023; four days after the presidential election and 10 days before the governorship elections holding on February 25 and March 11, respectively.
The Minister while briefing State House correspondents at the end of the first Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting of the year, presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the Council Chamber, Presidential Villa, Abuja, said the Police Act 2020 gives the IGP a four-year tenure which cannot be interrupted by retirement age.
Responding to a question bordering on whether the IGP would retire at 60 like other civil servants, Dingyadi said, “Let me say that by the provision of the Police Act 2020, the IG is now supposed to have a kind of four-year period and Mr. President has already given him letter of appointment in that regard.
“So, the issue of IG going out during this election period does not arise.”
Dingyadi also revealed that the FEC approved a draft bill for an Act to establish Nigeria Police Force College Training School and Institutions.
The Minister who said the piece of legislation will only give legal backing to about 20 existing training institutions nationwide, and not to build new ones, also said that the level of corruption within the Nigeria Police has drastically reduced.
President Muhammadu Buhari, appointed Baba, then-DIG, as the acting IGP on April 6, 2021. Two months later, the Police Council confirmed him as the substantive head of the Force.
Meanwhile, the Inspector-General of Police, IGP Usman Alkali Baba, psc(+), NPM, NEAPS, fdc, CFR, has ordered the distribution of more than a million copies of a handbook produced by the Nigeria Police Force on “Revised Standard Operational Guidelines/Rules for Police Officers and Other Law Enforcement Agents on Election Security Duties ahead of the 2023 General Elections.”
The 36 paged handbook contains a page for the details of the officer to whom it is issued, a foreword by the IGP, rules on general conduct, duty parade, briefing/debriefing, dress and accoutrement, managing political parties’ convention/rallies, and crowd control, use of force and lethal weapon, escorting and protecting election materials, the procedure of arrest, command and control and other salient electoral security rules.
The strategic distribution covers the Force Headquarters, Zonal and State Police Commands, Formations and trickles down to Units of the Force and Divisional Police Stations to ensure that every police officer will have a copy of the guidelines for ease of reference before the commencement of deployments. Similarly, the IGP has ordered distribution to the Presidency, Ministry of Police Affairs, Police Service Commission, the Military, and all other security agencies engaged alongside the Police in election security management based on their expected deployment for the elections.
The Inspector-General of Police has reiterated his expectation that the Police and other security agents involved in election security management will find the handbook to be a valuable operational companion which could act as a standard in holding them accountable in the line of their electoral duties, as all hands must be on deck to actualise the mandate and commitment of the NPF to have free, fair and credible elections in Nigeria.
Recall that there had been concerns over the expected retirement of the IGP, three Deputy Inspectors General of Police (DIGs), many Assistant Inspectors General of Police (AIGs), Commissioners of Police (CPs) and 290 other policemen in the first quarter of this year.