There cannot be any question on the right and privilege of the President to hire and fire any minister, head of government agency or parastatal; but the melodramatic sacking of Mohammed Adamu from his position as Inspector General of Police (IGP) portrays the absentee president Muhammadu Buhari as an angry, bitter and disillusioned man. Though the President has the authority to hire and fire, sacking Adamu in controversial circumstances, who, was serving a tenure extension and still had a month left in office, leaves much to be desired about the cantankerous and erratic state of Buhari’s temperament in the face of generalized insecurity that has overwhelmed Nigeria. Adamu may have been overdue retirement but sacking him while he was on an official tour of duty, inspecting the scene of the recent attacks on the police command and correctional facilities in Imo, betrayed the administration as reckless, indecorous and more than confused about something as elementary as basic human resource management. Democracy, civility, respect, accountability, simple decency and decorum demand better.
Buhari announced the appointment of Deputy Inspector General (DIG), Usman Alkali Baba, as acting IGP.
Just at the time, the presidency was announcing a change of guards in the police hierarchy; the former IGP was inspecting the scene of Monday’s attack in Imo. Adamu, who was received by Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodinma, on arrival and subsequently accompanied him to the destroyed facilities; was not even aware he had been sacked while he toured the facilities. After inspecting the damage caused by the attack, where gunmen stormed Owerri Correctional Centre and the Imo State Police Command headquarters, freeing 1,884 inmates and razing over 50 vehicles; the ex-IGP ordered police officers to use maximum force against IPOB. “Those that were released by the attackers, I have been told, some of them belong to the IPOB group; the proscribed IPOB group. We are sending this message to them that there will be no hiding place. They will be re-arrested and many more of the criminals within that group will be arrested. “Whether in their homes and forest, we are determined to fish them out. I have instructed my men to use maximum force with the guns available to us. We have the authority to defend the country, which they don’t have. We will not allow these criminals to succeed.” Adamu gave that order as the number one police officer in the country unaware he had been replaced.
Buhari had on February 4 extended the tenure of Adamu as the IGP for three months. Adamu, however, spent two months and three days of the extended period. Police Affairs Minister, Maigari Dingyadi who announced the sacking of Adamu told newsmen at the Villa, that the decision was with immediate effect. Dingyadi tried to spin what was an avoidable public relations disaster by claiming that Adamu was terminated following the completion of selection process for a new IGP. Dingyadi clearly spoke before thinking. If due diligence had been conducted and a new IGP selected, why then was Usman Alkali Baba appointed in an acting capacity? Why wasn’t Baba appointed IGP and his name submitted to the national assembly for screening? Reacting to why the president did not allow Adamu to serve the last month of his extension, the minister said: “The president is aware of this and you cannot take away that responsibility from him; he is the one who is in charge of appointing or extending tenures. He has now decided to appoint a new person. So, please, allow him that responsibility and we cannot do anything about it,” he said.
Dingyadi is right about the president having the prerogative to fire any appointee, but there has to be a better way to sack holders of high public office. Unless Adamu did something so egregious as to deserve public humiliation, and in which case such offence should have been made public, the president’s action neither showed consideration for the sacked Adamu nor respect for the office of IGP. Granted, IGPs hold their job at the pleasure of the president, but to recourse to such unceremonious dismissal, indicate the President either judged poorly; was wrongly advised or was so confounded by the undesirability of the former IGP and contemptuous of himself, for appointing him and later extending his tenure! In which case, Buhari should have just patiently waited for the clock to run down; or Adamu should have been quietly asked to resign or, if he would be so summarily dismissed, reasons should have been made public especially as he was on his way out.
Contemporary dynamics of civil-military relations demand security forces’ subordination to civil authority, but Buhari’s action did him little credit because the timing was not edifying, coming as Adamu had less than a month in the three-month extension accorded him by the same president Buhari. An inexplicable dismissal of an IGP with less than a month remaining in office seemed to have defeated the idea that all public officers are accountable to the public, which is the intendment of the constitution. Failure to do this very simple right thing has given room for speculation. The grapevine has taken over because of the dearth of official information, inevitably leading to an avoidable PR crisis, which exposes the government to even bigger ridicule. It is alright that Adamu was sacked, though ignominiously, but have the right lessons been learnt? More importantly, it must be asked: has the President set a template which should therefore not require a dramatic event before officials are fired in the future?
The public expectation was that the appointment of Adamu’s replacement would follow due process and respect extant laws and statutes, especially the federal character principle. With the increasing agitations for an independent republic of Biafra; and with the recent attacks in Owerri blamed on the pro-Biafra separatist group IPOB, political sagacity and gumption would dictate that the next IGP be appointed from the southeast; a zone with no representation in the security architecture in the country. Rather, the president saw yet another opportunity to reward a kinsman in furtherance of his parochial Islamization agenda, in defiance of basic common sense. The choice of Baba was an unnecessary own-goal as Buhari missed the opportunity of paying himself some compliments as father of the nation.
Aso Rock sources tell Huhuonline.com that the President appears to be unnecessarily edgy lately and has become increasingly introverted and withdrawn as he seems overwhelmed by the challenges of his job, especially his failure to tackle insecurity. He seems to be responding to everything on impulse, and has become the butt of jokes by his own aides who badmouth him behind his back as “Mr. Clueless.” But in Adamu’s case, the President clearly, could have been more circumspect and this case should have been better handled. Buhari must take responsibility and accept, without rancor that his presidency is a failure and stop giving his collaborators the proverbial bad name and hanging them. Sacking a man who was due to leave office in under a month only advertises a certain pettiness at the highest level of government and politicizes the police. This is a great disservice not only to the country, but to police officers. There has to be a better way beyond this revolving door of vindictive madness because it provides excuses for citizens to distrust every action taken by the president, especially in a country where a culture of excellence in governance remains undeveloped.
