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A planned shake-up that would have seen the compulsory retirement of around 30 Deputy Inspectors General (DIGs) and Assistant Inspectors General of Police (AIGs) following the removal of Kayode Egbetokun as Inspector-General of Police (IGP) has been halted by President Bola Tinubu.
Egbetokun has since handed over to his successor, Acting IGP Tunji Disu.
SaharaReporters has exclusively learned that the President intervened to stop the mass firing of senior officers.
The appointment of a new Acting IGP has reignited a nationwide debate over the controversial practice of compulsory retirement for senior police officers. Historically, such transitions trigger a wave of exits among top-ranking officers.
An internal list circulating within the Force indicates that at least eight DIGs, including Yahaya Abubakar (Finance), Adebola Hamzat (Logistics), Adebowale Williams (ICT), and Frank Mba (Training), were expected to be retired to preserve the command hierarchy.
“However, the Presidency has halted the firing of DIGs and AIGs, saying the new acting IGP Disu needs their experience,” a Presidency source told SaharaReporters on Friday.
Disu’s appointment came less than two months before his scheduled retirement at the mandatory age of 60.
Born on April 13, 1966, in Lagos State, Disu, police serial number AP 41729, was promoted to Assistant Inspector-General on March 6, 2025, and was originally set to retire on April 13, 2026.
Under the amended Police Act, which allows Inspectors-General of Police to serve a four-year tenure regardless of age, he would have been eligible to remain in office until 2030.
However, SaharaReporters has learned that unlike his predecessor, Egbetokun, recent developments may prevent Disu from enjoying an extension beyond his scheduled retirement date.
“They’re pushing to ensure acting IGP Disu leaves in April, on the date he is required to retire,” the source said. “Several of the senior officers have had their hopes rekindled after the Police Service Commission, which had compiled 30 names of senior officers for retirement was asked to halt the process.”
On Tuesday, SaharaReporters broke the news that Egbetokun had been removed from his position as IGP.
In a related development, human rights lawyer and academic Prof. Chidi Odinkalu drew attention on Wednesday via his X account to a 2023 purge that saw the exit of several top-ranking officers following Egbetokun’s appointment as IGP.
At the centre of the controversy is a landmark court ruling, delivered just days after the death of the man who championed it, which declared such compulsory retirements unconstitutional.
Moses Jitoboh’s Case
When Egbetokun was appointed in June 2023, the Police Service Commission compulsorily retired then-54-year-old DIG Moses Ambakina Jitoboh, despite him having several years remaining before the statutory retirement age of 60.
The PSC had justified the move by citing a “police tradition” of retiring senior officers when a junior is promoted over them to avoid “status reversal.”
Jitoboh, refusing to accept the decision, sued the PSC and the Nigeria Police Force at the National Industrial Court in Suit No: NICN/ABJ/274/2023.
In the lawsuit, he contended that his appointment was protected by statutory provisions and could not be cut short based on a policy decision that conflicted with the law.
In a landmark judgment delivered on January 13, 2025, Justice Osatohanmwen Obaseki-Osaghae held that Jitoboh’s compulsory retirement was void, illegal, and unconstitutional.
The court ruled that the PSC lacked the power to arbitrarily truncate the career of a senior officer who had neither attained the mandatory age nor served the required 35 years.
Justice Obaseki-Osaghae was scathing in her evaluation of the PSC’s “status reversal” policy, stating, “The reasons proffered in the extract from the minutes, and the notice of compulsory retirement issued by the Police Service Commission are at best mere statements of policy intent; they have no force of law, and they are in conflict with the provisions of the Public Service Rule.”
The court further held that the PSC failed to show any law that empowered it to retire a public officer with no blemish before their statutory time.
“The state of the law today is that Moses Jitoboh cannot be compulsorily retired from service by the Police Service Commission unless he has attained 60 years of age or 35 years of service… The Court finds that Moses Jitoboh has been in the service of the Nigeria Police Force since 1994 without any allegations of wrongdoing,” it said.
In a tragic twist of fate, the victory was a hollow one for the Jitoboh family as DIG Jitoboh passed away on December 28, 2024, just two weeks before the verdict in his case was delivered. He was 54 years old.
Despite his death, the court proceeded to grant the following reliefs: “A Declaration that Jitoboh remains a DIG until June 10, 2029, when he would have served 35 years.
“An Order for the PSC to pay all outstanding salaries and allowances.
“General Damages of ₦50,000,000.00 (Fifty Million Naira) for the “unwarranted embarrassment” and “stigma” caused by the unlawful retirement.
“Cost of Action of ₦750,000.00.”
Odinkalu, reflecting on the judgment, noted that neither the PSC nor the Nigeria Police Force filed an appeal against the ruling, effectively admitting that the purge was a legal error.
