THE newly appointed Inspector-General of Police Usman Alkali Baba has only two years left in the Nigeria Police, The ICIR has found.
Baba was appointed Acting IGP on Tuesday by President Muhammadu Buhari to replace former IGP Mohammed Adamu.
However, he has only two more years to spend as an officer of the Nigerian Police Force.
This is because the Acting IGP admitted in a 2014 interview that he joined the Police Force “sometimes in March 1988.”
He said this during an interview with The Vanguard published on September 24, 2014.
“Alkali Baba Usman was born sometime in 1963. I am an alumnus of Bayero University, Kano, and the University of Maiduguri, UNIMAID.”
In his response in the interview, he had said, “I am married with children. I joined the Nigerian Police Force sometime in March 1988. I rose from the rank of ASP, and thence to the rank of Commissioner of Police, last January 27th.”
This means that he is 33 years in service and 58 years of age. The Police Act prescribes a maximum of 35 years of service and/or 60 years of age for retirement -whichever comes first.
Acting IGP Baba should be 35 years in service and 60 years in 2023, hence due for retirement in the election year.
Part 111 Section 7 (6) of the Police Act, repealed as the Police Act Cap. P19, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004, prescribed a four-year single tenure for a person appointed to the office of the IGP.
The appointment of an IGP is subject to the provisions of clause 18 (8), which stipulates that every police officer shall, on recruitment or appointment, serve in the Nigeria Police Force for a period of 35 years or until he attains the age of 60 years, whichever is earlier.
If, like former IGP Adamu, his tenure is extended, there could be legal fisticuffs, especially because 2023 is an election year.
Two appointments in three months
In December 2020, Usman was promoted from the rank of Assistant Inspector General of Police {AIG) to Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG).
After his appointment, he was also appointed as the Head of Force Criminal Investigations Department (FCID).
Just three months after his appointment as the Head of FCID, he was appointed the Acting IGP.
Usman’s Proffessional History
The Yobe-born IGP holds a master’s degree in Public Administration (MPA) and a Bachelor of Arts (ED) in Political Science.
After serving as an Area Commander in Kwara State, he was appointed the Second-in-Command in Ebonyi, before he was made Assistant Commissioner in Kaduna State.
He was the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in Yola, Gombe, Kaduna, and Jos.
Subsequently, he served as Delta State Commissioner of Police in 2014 before he was transferred to serve as Commissioner of Police in FCT.
He also served as the Assistant Inspector-General of Police in charge of Zone-5 which includes Benin, Zone-4 Makurdi, Zone-7 Abuja.
Before he was appointed Head of FCID, he had been the Acting DIG in charge of finance and administration.
Lukman Abolade is an Investigative reporter with The ICIR. Reach out to him via labolade@icirnigeria.org, on twitter @AboladeLAA and FB @Correction94