The Police Service Commission (PSC) has called on the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) to provide concrete evidence to support its claims of corruption in the recent recruitment exercise for Constable cadre into the Force.
In a statement released on Friday, PSC spokesperson, Ikechukwu Ani, accused the NPF of disrespecting the commission’s mandate to recruit police personnel for the Force.
Recall that the NPF had previously alleged that the recruitment process undertaken by the PSC was compromised by bribery and irregularities.
“The Commission demands that the Police should provide verifiable evidence to prove the allegations peddled against it as it is obvious that it is a case of giving a dog a bad name in order to hang it,” Ani stated.
The PSC spokesman expressed the commission’s concern over the “flagrant abuse” of the supreme court’s judgement, which reaffirmed the commission’s constitutional mandate to recruit personnel for the NPF.
LEADERSHIP recalls that on June 15, the NPF rejected the list of 10,000 successful applicants for Constable and Specialist cadre roles released by the PSC on June 4.
ACP Muyiwa Adejobi, the NPF spokesperson, labelled the recruitment process as tainted, claiming that the list included candidates who had failed either the computer-based test (CBT), the physical screening exercise, or both.
But, responding to the allegations, the PSC’s joint union congress accused the Police of attempting to compromise the recruitment process and called for the removal of Kayode Egbetokun from office as the inspector-general of police.
The PSC’s spokesperson further claimed that the NPF had “hired writers to run down the commission” and that the public release of the IGP’s letter was a breach of civil service rules. Ani described the police’s attribution of their failure to combat banditry to flawed recruitment as “unfortunate and self-indicting”.
“Since 2019, when the Police forcefully snatched the exercise from the commission, they have gone ahead against the provisions of the law to superintendent over the 2020 and 2021 exercises,” the statement read. “It is the fraudulent recruits that they brought into the system during these exercises that are currently haunting the Nigeria Police Force.”
Ani suggested that the police’s distractions are deliberate attempts to retain control over the recruitment process, despite the supreme court’s ruling.
The PSC appealed to President Tinubu to protect the commission’s constitutional mandate and urged the NPF to respect its role. The spokesperson emphasized that successful candidates should proceed to training without further delay.
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