A fresh row between the police authorities and the Police Service Commission (PSC) broke into the open yesterday after Police Inspector-General Kayode Egbetokun accused the commission of manipulating the ongoing 2022/23 Police Constables Recruitment Exercise.

Egbetokun slammed the PSC for alleged corruption of the process through smuggling in of names of “candidates who failed either the Computer Based Test (CBT) or the physical screening exercise or both.”

The PSC however denied the allegations and dismissed them as not only in bad state but diversionary.

It demanded a forensic audit of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board Computer Based Test which the police authorities had queried.

It wondered why “it is only during recruitment exercises that police confrontation manifests, suggesting obvious hidden interests and corrupt tendencies.”

The Force Public Relations Officer, ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, in a statement, said the police had to cry out after they were “inundated with series of complaints and allegations of corruption raised by unsuspecting candidates and stakeholders on the irregularities that marred the exercise.”

Adejobi claimed that upon careful scrutiny of the list released on the PSC portal, the police discovered some names of “successful candidates” who did not even apply and therefore did not take part in the recruitment exercise.

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His words: “The published list contains several names of candidates who failed either the Computer Based Test (CBT) or the physical screening exercise or both.

“There are those who made it to the last stage of the exercise but were disqualified, having been found medically unfit through the standardised medical test, but who also made the list of successful candidates as published by the PSC.

“Most worrisome is the allegation of financial dealings and corrupt practices leading to the outcome where unqualified and un-trainable individuals have been shortlisted.”

Egbetokun had on June 10, 2024 written a letter of objection on the list addressed to the Chairman of the Commission, citing the discoveries.

Adejobi said the reaction of the IGP was without prejudice to the power of the Commission to recruit for the police as confirmed by the Supreme Court in a case between the two sides.

But he said this power “does not include the power to recruit unqualified and untrained individuals for the police.”

He added that it is the police that bear the brunt of recruitment of unqualified individuals and not the PSC.

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“The same people who recruited anyhow for the police today will turn round to accuse the police tomorrow of inefficiency when their recruits start messing up,” he said.

The police, according to him, have dissociated themselves from the published list and called for a review that will be transparent and credible.

He recalled that the leadership of PSC, as a fallout of the pronouncement of the Supreme Court on the powers of the Commission to recruit for the police, had constituted a Joint Recruitment Board to be headed by a PSC Commissioner with the Deputy Inspector General of Police in charge of Training and Development in the Police Force as its Secretary.

“But surprisingly, the Board was crippled and never allowed to carry out its mandate, insomuch that even the final list was not consented to by the Board,” Adejobi said.

“The Nigeria Police Force therefore takes exception to this unpleasant development and calls for a total review of the process with a view to recruiting qualified, competent, trainable and productive hands into the Nigeria Police Force, in line with the vision of His Excellency President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s led administration on police reform.

“The NPF hereby reiterates that we are not unconcerned about the plights and ordeals of prospective recruits who have been subjected to all forms of rigorous screening exercise, assuring that it is our commitment to ensure that the process is thoroughly reviewed, stands fruitful and successful for the betterment of the Nigeria Police, and by extension the country.”

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In a swift reaction to the police allegations, the Joint Union Congress of the PSC said due process was followed in the recruitment.

In a statement signed on behalf of JUC by Ogundeji Remi and Adoyi Adoyi , the PSC accused the police of seeking to stop it (commission) from exercising its constitutional power to appoint people into the Force despite the unambiguity in the powers of the PSC as spelt out in the 1999 Constitution and the interpretation of such powers by the Supreme Court.

“This clandestine scheming by the Inspector General of Police to usurp such powers is obviously an affront on both the Nigerian Constitution and judgment of the Supreme Court,” the JUC said.

Continuing, it said: “The Commission is at a loss why it is only during recruitment exercises that police confrontation manifests, suggesting obvious hidden interests and corrupt tendencies.

“To address the issues raised by the FPRO in the above release, it is worthy of note that after the Commission got judgement from the Supreme Court on the 11th of July, 2023 re-affirming its powers to, amongst other things, appoint qualified Nigerians into the Police Force as stipulated in the paragraph 30 Part 1 of the Third Schedule of the Nigerian Constitution thus: The Commission shall have power to (a) appoint persons to offices (other than the office of the Inspector-General of Police) in the Nigeria Police Force; the Commission to ensure inclusiveness constituted a Recruitment Board comprising of a Commissioner from the Police Service (PSC) as Chairman, Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Development and Training Department as Co-Chairman/Deputy Chairman, CP Hassan Yabanet representing Police Training Colleges (NPF), Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Olabode Akinbamilowo as Secretary to the Board amongst others.

“The Board had representatives from virtually all the stakeholders in the Police Sector such as The Commission, the Police, Ministry of Police Affairs, Federal Character Commission, the Police Colleges and the Police Trust Fund.

“The claim that the Recruitment Board was crippled and was not allowed to function was no doubt a fallacy as the Board severally met before the release of the list of successful candidates.

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“The same Board met and endorsed the list that was released on the 4th of June, 2024 at their usual meeting point, PSC Corporate Headquarters, with the DIG Training, Mr Frank Mba and other Police representatives in attendance.

“Meanwhile, it is also worthy of note that the Police had shortlisted and concluded the exercise without the knowledge of the Board and PSC. They had the effrontery to submit the list to the Commission.

“They wanted a meeting of the Board where they had planned to force the list on the Board, but unfortunately their plans collapsed.

“For example, this takes us back to 2019 when the then IGP hijacked the list of candidates of the smooth ongoing recruitment exercise from the Commission in the guise of having the list to prepare the training colleges for the training purposes and ended up smuggling hundreds of names of persons who neither applied nor participated in the screening process.

“A case in study is Nasarawa State with 13 local government areas that is supposed to have had 253 successful candidates but ended up having 528 after the NPF had sneaked 275 candidates in excess. That culminated into the Commission instituting a legal action against the NPF over our mandate.”

The commission demanded a forensic audit of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board Computer Based Test results and its comparison with the list released by the Commission.

It said the list of the successful candidates as released by the Commission was open to anyone or organisation for forensic examination to establish its authenticity.

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The union said the commission would not at any time involve itself in any untoward activities in the process of recruiting qualified Nigerians into the Force.

It challenged the police and any other interested body to investigate any act of financial dealings and corrupt practices as alleged by the Force Public Relations Officer.

PSC said: “Considering the power and mandate of the Commission as derived from the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (and eventually reiterated, interpreted and established by the Supreme Court judgement of the 11th of July, 2023) and the 2001 Establishment Act of the Police Service Commission, the Commission is the only Executive Body charged with the responsibility, amongst others, of appointing qualified Nigerians into the Nigeria Police Force.

“However, as we mentioned earlier, based on the democratic nature, sense of responsibility, inclusiveness and transparency of the Commission, it has always involved other relevant Bodies, including the NPF, in the recruitment process.

“However, we would not succumb to any form of blackmail and threat as demonstrated by the Inspector-General of Police in the Press Release with reference number CZ.5300/FPRD/FHQ/ABJ/VOL.6/178, dated June 15, 2024 by the Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), signed on behalf of the Inspector General of Police.”

In the Supreme Court ruling, the apex court declared the PSC as the sole authority charged with recruiting constables into the force.

The case stemmed from an approval given by former President Muhammadu Buhari for the recruitment of 60,000 constables over a period of six years at the rate of 10,000 per year.

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“The board will screen and ensure that only able and qualified members of the public are recruited into the NPF, reflecting also the principle of Federal Character,” PSC spokesperson Ikechukwu Ani had said soon after the judgement.

President Tinubu last Monday approved the appointment of retired Deputy Inspector General of |Police Hashim Argungu as the chairman of PSC to replace retired IG Solomon Arase.

Source: The Nation