Police Recruitment: PSC Won’t Succumb To Intimidation 

• IGP Egbetokun comes under fire

The Police Service Commission (PSC) says no amount of intimidation and underhand engagement by the Police High Command will make it circumvent the law regarding the recruitment of police constables.

Raising an alarm on Friday that the Police authorities are intimidating the Commission over the exongoing issues, PSC spokesperson, Ikechukwu Ani alleged that the Force has unfortunately deployed brute force with the hiring of many writers and commentators to run down the PSC.

The statement, which maintained that the Police Force was created to enforce the law and not to circumvent it in whatever guise, alleged all the current posturing and distractions were calculated attempts by the Police to hold on, by all means, to the recruitment of Constables despite the Supreme Court Judgment.

It further said; “This show of brute force and intimidation by the Police and most recently inducements of hired writers to run down the Commission in the Media is a serious affront on the mandate of the Commission”.

The PSC’s allegation is against the backdrop of the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun’s insistence not to accept what he described as “anyhow” recruitment carried out by the Commission.

The IGP made the remarks on Thursday during a meeting top police officers on the rank of Assistant Inspector Generals (AIGs), and Commissioners of Police at the Lious Edet Force Headquarters, Abuja.

Reacting to Egbetokun’s outbursts, the PSC called on President Bola Tinubu, to rein in the IGP and direct him to respect the constitutional mandate of the Commission to recruit for the Police.

Also, the statement said; “The Commission wishes to appeal to Mr. President to protect it and rein in the Nigeria Police Force to respect the Constitutional Mandate of the Commission to recruit.

“The Commission is disturbed at the flagrant abuse of ethics, the Constitution and valid judgment of the apex court of the land”.

Explaining that the Commission has studied issues around the successfully concluded recruitment exercise, the statement said the PSC has reached the conclusion that even after the Supreme Court Judgment, the Police is reluctant to allow it perform this constitutional assigned responsibility.

Consequently, the PSC is demanding that the Police should provide verifiable evidence to prove the allegations peddled against it, saying “it is obvious that it is a case of giving a dog a bad name in order to hang it.

“It is important to state that due process was meticulously followed throughout the exercise and the Commission wishes to assert its prerogative to exercise full control over recruitments into the Nigeria Police Force.

“The Commission is also insisting that its list of successful candidates and that of the Police should be subjected to a forensic audit using the result of the JAMB computer based test.”

It is on record that there has been persistent ill-will between the Police hierarchy and PSC leading to interruption in the recruitment of 10,000 police constables that were meant to aid the injection of more manpower into the Force.

The exercise aimed at bolstering the Nigeria Police’s capacity to tackle the worrying insecurity in the country.