President has right to extend IG’s tenure, says Keyamo SAN

In his reaction, however, the Spokesman for the Buhari Campaign
Organisation, Mr. Festus Keyamo (SAN), said the PDP was raising a
false alarm.

Keyamo argued that the President had the right to retain or
extend the tenure of the IG as he deems fit.

He said former President Olusegun Obasanjo also extended the
tenure of a police boss during his time. He wondered why the PDP
did not complain when Obasanjo did it.

The senior advocate said, “The highest statutory rank you can
get as a policeman is commissioner. Every other rank is a political
appointment. So, it is at the discretion of the President to
appoint or not. Let the PDP wait till they get to power in many
years from now before they dictate to the President on who to
appoint.

“Nobody dictated to Obasanjo when he extended the tenure of the
IG. These things are done sometimes for the purpose of convenience
in terms of planning and arrangement because the ultimate desire of
all of us is to have a peaceful election.

“The PDP is jittery because they used to use the police and INEC
to rig elections until the game changed in 2015. Even the former
IG, Suleiman Abba, said he was sacked because he refused to help
them rig 2015 elections.”