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The Joint Staff Union of the Police Service Commission has debunked claims by the Nigeria Police Force that the Recruitment Board was crippled and was not allowed to function during the recent recruitment of 10000 civilians into the police force
DAILY POST recalls that the Nigerian Police Force in a statement signed by the Force Public Relations Officer, ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi alleged irregularities in the just concluded recruitment exercise
According to ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, “Upon scrutiny of the list released on the PSC portal, it was discovered that
several names of persons purported to be names of successful candidates are those who did not even apply and therefore did not take part in the recruitment exercise.”
Reacting on Saturday in a statement by Chairmen of the Joint Union Congress of the Police Service Commission, Ogundeji Remi Ally and Adoyi A. Adoyi, Chairman, NCSU. Chairman, ASCSN, respectively, the body said it is sad to note that despite the unambiguity in the powers of the Police Service Commission, PSC, as clearly spelt out by the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the subsequent interpretation of such powers by the Supreme Court, the Nigeria Police Force will still not allow the Commission exercise its constitutional powers to appoint persons into the Nigeria Police Force.
” After the Commission got a 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, the Ministry of Police Affairs, the Federal Character Commission, the Police Colleges and the Police Trust Fund.”
In the statement titled; On JAMB CBT we stand,” the Commission is at a loss as to why it is only during recruitment exercises that Police confrontation manifests suggesting obvious hidden interests and corrupt tendencies, adding that the Board severally met before the release of the list of successful candidates.
“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 D.I.G Training, Mr Frank Mba and other Police representatives in attendance, it said.
“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 for the smooth ongoing recruitment exercise from the Commission in the guise of having the list to prepare the training colleges for training purposes and ended up smuggling hundreds of names of persons who neither applied nor participated in the screening process.
The union then demanded that the Commission provide a forensic audit of the Computer Based Test results and compare it with the list released by the Commission. We insist that the list of the successful candidates as released by the Commission is open to anybody or organization for forensic examination to establish its authenticity among others
