Egbetokun Remaining In Office As IGP Is Illegal – Dele Farotimi

Human rights lawyer, Dele Farotimi, has said the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, should have retired.

Naijaonpoint reports that Farotimi said the decision of the President Bola Tinubu-led administration to confirm his stay as the Inspector-General was against the constitutional provision.

In an interview with News Central, he stated that the accusation of the former presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowere, was correct.

“Nigeria as a legal entity is full of lies and contradictions, and laws rarely matter in the country that we have built. If laws matter, the reality is that Yele is completely correct. The Inspector General of Police is illegal. He has exceeded his time in office.

“But what the presidency is telling you is that the law does not matter. The President has decreed and it has been as decreed. Because if it is not decreed, then it would be in accordance with the law. And what the law says is that Kayode Egbetokun should retire and should have retired.

“So that the President has decreed is another buggy mentality. That the decree of the President supersedes the constitution or the law in Nigeria is just another one of the many sickening realities of our existence. But that is just what it is,” he said.

Speaking further on his use of the word illegal, Farotimi explained that the President decided to take an action that was against the law. He added that the Police Service Commission (PSC) also confirmed that Egbetokun ought to have retired.

“If the President’s word is superior to the clear wordings 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 his pronouncement. Because the Police Service Commission has not denied the fact that the man should have retired,” he added.