Human rights lawyer and activist, Dele Farotimi, has weighed in on the controversy surrounding the continued stay in office by Nigeria’s Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, asserting that it was illegal and that the latter should have retired by now.
Farotimi, who spoke during an interview on News Central TV on Saturday, monitored by our Correspondent, supported the stance of former presidential candidate and activist, Omoyele Sowore, who has also questioned the legitimacy of Egbetokun’s ‘elongated’ tenure.
Recall that Sowore, the convener of the #RevolutionNow Movement, was recently detained by the police over allegations of cybercrime against the IGP for declaring the incumbent IGP as ‘illegal’. Although he was granted administrative bail on the condition of securing a civil servant of a specific rank as surety, Sowore rejected the terms and opted to remain in custody. The police subsequently filed a 16-count charge against him under Section 24(2)(c)(ii) of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act, 2015, as amended in 2024.
The charges stemmed from Sowore’s post on X (formerly Twitter), in which he referred to Egbetokun as the “illegal IG of the Nigeria Police Force.” He also shared the IGP’s photo with the caption: *“Mediocrity, incompetence, corruption, a country run by characterless people cannot make progress.”
During a court hearing on Thursday, Justice Musa Liman granted Sowore bail set at N10 million with a surety, also ordering him to surrender his passport to the court registrar.
Reacting to the controversy, Farotimi criticised the federal government’s disregard for legal provisions, arguing that Egbetokun’s continued stay in office contradicts the law.
“Nigeria is a legal entity full of lies and contradictions, and laws rarely matter in the country that we have built,” Farotimi stated.
“If laws matter, the reality is that Yele is completely correct. The Inspector General of Police is illegal, he has exceeded his term in office, but what the Presidency is telling you is that the law does not matter,” he added.
Farotimi further accused President Bola Tinubu of overriding the constitution by allowing Egbetokun to remain in office.
“The President has ‘decreed,’ and it has been as ‘decreed,’ because if it is not ‘decreed,’ then it will be in accordance with the law. And what the law says is that Kayode Egbetokun should retire,” he argued.
When the interviewer pointed out that the presidency had not issued any formal decree, Farotimi maintained his stance, saying, “It is the effect of what he has said that I’m talking about. If the president’s word is superior to the clear wording of the law, the existential reality is that he has decreed something outside of the law. And it is because he is the imperator. It does not change the fact that what he has said supersedes the law.
“So, when the pronouncement of the president supersedes the law, the only thing you can say is that the president has issued a decree. That is the effective nature of the pronouncement because the Police Service Commission (PSC) has not denied the fact that the man should have retired.”