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| - AN X user, @datarpro, has claimed that only police officers who have served as a Commissioner of Police in Lagos State can be appointed as Nigeria’s Inspector General of Police (IGP).
He made the post while reacting to a post by another X user, @pidomnigeria, who announced the death of a police deputy Inspector General, Moses Jitoboh, who allegedly passed away on December 27, 2024.
READ: IGP’s ‘transmission’ video wasn’t doctored
@pidomnigeria had in his earlier post alleged that the late police officer was not appointed the nation’s IGP by both ex-President Muhammadu Buhari during his tenure and the incumbent President Bola Ahmed Tinubu because he hailed from Bayelsa State. This was the origin of the conversation on the X platform.
In response, @datarpro commented:
“Get your facts right, Oga PiDOM. Before you can be an IGP, you must have been a Commissioner of Police in Lagos State. It’s a must. You can’t police Nigeria effectively without policing Lagos. I come in peace.”
The response has garnered traction on X with over 200 comments.
CLAIM
One must have served as a Commissioner of Police in Lagos State to be appointed as Inspector General of Police in Nigeria.
THE FINDINGS
Findings by The FactCheckHub revealed that this claim is FALSE.
The position of Inspector General of Police (IGP) is the highest rank within the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) and is constitutionally appointed by the Nigerian president.
According to Section 215 of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria, the Inspector General of Police (IGP) must be appointed from among serving members of the force.
To verify this claim, our fact-checker reviewed the Police Act of 2020, particularly Sections 7 and 8, which outline the appointment, tenure, and removal of the IGP. There is no section or subsection that stipulates a requirement for any officer to have served as Commissioner of Police in Lagos State before being appointed as IGP.
The relevant requirement as stated in Subsection 2 of Section 7, reads:
“The person to be appointed as Inspector-General of Police shall be a senior police officer not below the rank of Assistant Inspector-General of Police, with the requisite academic qualifications of not less than a first degree or its equivalent, in addition to professional and management experience.”
In addition, our fact-checker spoke with Ikechukwu Ani, the spokesperson for the Police Service Commission (PSC).
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Ani said the claim is false, noting that it has never been a practice in the Nigerian police.
“The appointment of the IG is at the discretion of the President, with the approval of the Police Council.
“The current IG has not held the office of Commissioner of Police in Lagos before his appointment. In fact, many former IGs have never served as Commissioner of Police in Lagos before being appointed,” he told The FactCheckHub.
THE VERDICT
The claim that one must have served as a Commissioner of Police in Lagos State to be appointed as Inspector General of Police in Nigeria is FALSE; there is no such requirement in the Constitution or Police Act.
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