•Police chief to retire this year at 60, extended tenures of intelligence agencies’ heads in focus

The security architecture of the country may experience a rejig with a window provided by the expected expiration of extended tenures of the Director General of Department of State Service (DSS), Yusuf Bichi, and the Director General of the Nigerian Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ahmed Rufai Abubakar.

Also, the tenure of the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, expires this year on attainment of 60 years.

On expiration of Bichi, Abubakar and Egbetokun tenures, President Bola Tinubu will make fresh appointments to fill the offices of DSS, NIA DGs and that of the IGP.

This is coming in the same year when the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, will also retire.

Former president, Muhammadu Buhari, had first appointed the DSS DG in September 2018, following the retirement of Matthew Seiyefa, who headed the secret police agency in acting capacity from August 7, 2018 to September 14, 2018.

A month to the expiration of Bichi’s tenure in 2022, Buhari, in August of that year, extended it, believing that it was better to have him continue in office during the general election than to have a fresh DG DSS and also for the incoming president to make his choice of DG DSS himself on assumption of office.

The extended tenure of the 68-year-old secret service boss is expected to end in the coming months, which will require a handover to the most senior director in acting capacity, pending the appointment and confirmation of a substantive DG. Some directors in the DSS are retiring soon, it was gathered.

Bichi was recalled from retirement by Buhari in September 2018 after quitting the DSS two years earlier.

IGP Egbetokun, who was appointed by Tinubu on June 19, 2023, is expected to retire from the Nigeria Police Force on September 4, 2024, when he would be 60 years old except President Tinubu gives him a waiver.

The civil service rule stipulates that civil servants are mandated to retire following the attainment of age 60 or after 35 years in service, whichever one comes first.

Tinubu followed the path of Buhari, who appointed a police officer whose retirement date preceded his tenure in office.

Contrary to the Police Act, 2020, which stipulates a four-year tenure for an IGP, Buhari appointed the former IGP Usman Baba on April 6, 2021, while he was turning 60 on March 1, 2023, by which time he would be due for retirement, in accordance with the civil service rule.

Like Baba, Egbetokun’s retirement precedes his full tenure. Born on September 4, 1964, Egbotokun joined the NPF on March 3, 1990, as a Cadet Assistant Superintendent of Police in Course 16.

In September, the IGP will be 60 years old. However, he may proceed to pre-retirement leave, three months earlier, by June.

In a related development, the office of the Director General of NIA, Ahmed Rufai Abubakar, may also be vacant in the coming months.

Abubakar was appointed on January 10, 2018 by Buhari. He replaced Ayo Oke, who was suspended by the then president in April 2017 and removed from office on October 30, the same year.

Like Bichi, Abubakar’s tenure was extended by former Buhari in 2022.

The retirement of Bichi, Egbetokun and Abubakar, it was gathered, will afford President Tinubu the opportunity to appoint replacements, based on merit, in the face of the security challenges in the country occasioned by terrorism/insurgency, banditry, herdsmen/farmers’ clashes, cybercrime, among others.

Sources close to the Presidency said that the next helmsmen in the three security arms will be tasked to refocus and re-evaluate security operations in DSS, police and NIA.

Meanwhile, the CJN Ariwoola will retire in August. Born on August 22, 1954, the CJN will turn 70 in August. He would have spent approximately two years in office by then, having assumed office as CJN in acting capacity on June 27, 2022, following the resignation of former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Tanko Muhammad. He was formally confirmed CJN by the Senate on September 21, 2022. (Daily Sun)

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