President Muhammadu Buhari, influenced by the Aso Rock cabals, decided to end the tenure of the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, due to the embarrassing security deterioration in the South-East and South-South regions.
SaharaReporters reports that some people close to President Muhammadu Buhari also believe Adamu, although coincidentally on a working visit to Imo State, has run out of ideas to deal with the ravaging secessionist groups threatening the unity of the country, the peace in the region and security personnel in the region.
Imo State, where Adamu went on Tuesday, has had the latest and arguably the most daring attacks by gunmen – whom he said were believed to be members of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra and the Eastern Security Network – working ultimately towards a secessionist agenda funded by foreign influences.
“That IGP Mohammed Adamu was sacked while on an operational visit to Imo State means a lot. He was in the good books of the Presidency and had only spent about two months out of his three-month extension. But the rising attacks in the South-East and South-South are what every powerbroker around Buhari frowns on and believes Adamu should go because he has run out of ideas.
“The cabals are afraid secession is coming and anarchy is rising from the South. The immediate task of the new IGP will be to manage the rising insurrection in the Southern region,” one of the sources revealed.
“The new IGP is from Yobe State, and he understands insurgency. He was the Head of Force Criminal Investigation Department. He has been given orders from the Presidency and he knows why exactly he has been brought and the urgent tasks before him,” another source stated.
“The attack in Imo was the last straw that broke the camel’s back. There was a conspiracy by some police officers to also sabotage Adamu into being ridiculed. He was no longer popular. The proximity of the prison facility and the state police headquarters that were breached in Owerri to other security agencies leaves so much to be investigated. The attack lasted for more than three hours and the attackers moved more than 1,000 inmates out of the vicinity without being repelled or arrested. That was sabotage and the Presidency was angry that Adamu could no longer manage the police,” the source added.
Muhammed Dingyadi, the Minister of Police Affairs, communicated the president’s replacement of Adamu with DIG Usman Alkali Baba, to State House correspondents at the Presidential Villa on Tuesday.
The president said Alkali should replace Mohammed Adamu with immediate effect.
Buhari had on February 4 extended the tenure of Adamu as the IGP for three months.
Adamu, who was appointed in 2019, had clocked the mandatory 35 years in service on February 1 and was expected to have been replaced by the president.
His tenure extension had elicited widespread criticism and a resultant lawsuit.
Maxwell Opara, a legal practitioner, had taken the IGP to court, contending that by virtue of section 215 of the Nigerian constitution and section 7 of the Nigeria Police Act, 2020, he cannot continue to function as the IGP, having retired as a serving member of the force.
In his defence, the IGP had told the Federal High Court that the new Nigeria Police Act gave him a four-year tenure, which would only lapse in either 2023 or 2024.
Supporting Adamu’s position, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, had stated that the law permitted the IGP to remain in office.