Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, and the Association of African Writers on Human and People’s Rights, have commended President Muhammadu Buhari for nominating immediate past Chief of Army Staff, COAS, Lt. Gen. Tukur Yusuf Buratai and other Service Chiefs as non-career ambassador-designate.
They also dismissed claims by those opposing the nominations.
HURIWA said the non-career Ambassador-designate nominees who had served Nigeria with pride for over 40 years of their productive lives, gave their all to advance public good.
HURIWA and the other Civil Rights Advocacy groups that met in Abuja endorsed the nominations and dismissed the criticisms against the appointments as “misplaced and baseless” because there is no empirical evidence to prove that the immediate past Service Chiefs had any human rights problem both locally and internationally.
They pointed out that as far as legal records are concerned, the “erstwhile Service Chiefs have no pending invitations at the International Criminal Court, ICC, in The Hague Netherlands.”
A statement issued by HURIWA’s National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko after a consultative conference with the other rights group in Abuja said they have resolved to send a letter to the Senate demanding an expedite action in the anticipated parliamentary approval so the newly appointed ambassadors can be assigned to their respective posts to serve the overall interests of Nigeria.
The statement reads: “We are happy with Mr. President Muhammadu Buhari for exercising authority in a much more decisive manner by poaching these retired officers to immediately commence diplomatic services to Nigeria. We are one hundred percent sure that these professional military Generals will stand their own in international diplomacy and will represent all of us the good citizens of the Federal Republic of Nigeria creditably and will inevitably make us proud in foreign jurisdictions after serving us locally in a comprehensively meritorious and patriotic manner.
Similarly, the rights group said that President Muhammadu Buhari should immediately appoint a fresh and substantive Inspector General of Police to step into the office that by law has been vacated after statutory and non-reversible retirement by the immediate past IGP, Mohammed Adamu.
Minister of Police Affairs, Maigari Dingyadi had disclosed that Buhari had extended the tenure of Adamu as IG of Police.
Dingyadi said that Buhari’s decision to extend the IGP’s tenure for another three months was to properly select the new security chiefs.
However, the Rights Advocacy group said it was illegal to retain a retired police chief in clear disregard to a law signed by Buhari.
It said that unlike the military chiefs whose tenures are not spelt out in the Constitution nor statutes, the office of IGP has a clear and an unambiguous tenure that cannot be extended without violating extant laws including the Supreme Law of the land,” the statement said.
HURIWA stated that Buhari cannot violate the clear provisions of the constitution and the amended Police Act 2020.
The Rights Advocacy group said under section 215 (1)(a) of 1999 Constitution, the extension of the tenure of the clearly retired IGP, Mohammed Adamu is null, void and of no moment because that section pronounces thus: “There shall be an Inspector-General of Police who, subject to section 216(2) of this Constitution shall be appointed by the President on the advice of the Nigeria Police Council from among serving members of the Nigeria Police Force.” Section 216(2):
“Before making any appointment to the office of the Inspector-General of Police or removing him from office, the President shall consult the Nigeria Police Council.”
“HURIWA and our credible partners agree with the sound legal positions canvassed by some of Nigeria’s constitutional eggheads that when the tenure of a serving IGP expires on the ground of completing the mandatory 35 years of service, he cannot be asked to continue in office beyond his mandatory tenure. An IGP who has served the mandatory years of service ceases to be a member of the Nigeria Police Force from the date of his completion of service. In this case, Mr Adamu ceases to be a member of the NPF from February 2, 2021.”
