By Gideon Njoku
Nigerians, in their hundreds, have accused both the Police Service Commission and the Inspector General of Police, IGP, Mohammed Adamu, of insensitivity to the security problems which have engulfed Nigeria. They accuse them of playing the Roman Emperor Nero, who fiddled while Rome burnt.
They say they are like people pursing rats while their houses are on fire. And those who spoke to this magazine are not only angry; they are also putting the blame for the mess at the feet of the Presidency, as represented by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Their anger stems from the confusion and mess which have become the recruitment of 10,000 Police Constables approved by President Buhari to help take care of the security situation which has gradually progressed from bad to worse.
When Buhari approved of the recruitment, it was in the hope that they would be used for Community Policing.
But since the approval, and since the recruitment started, it has been enmeshed in controversy, in-fighting, ego trip, power play and more, between the Police Service Commission and the Force Headquarters.
The fight is over whose right it is to recruit the Constables – PSC or the NPF.
Constitutionally, the PSC has oversight functions over the Police. The appointment, promotion and discipline of every policeman/officer, except that of the IGP, is under the PSC.
The appointment of the IGP rests with the President, and the Police Council which confirms him after the President’s appointment. Meaning that the PSC, through its Chairman, who is a member of the Police Council, also, has a say in the confirmation of who becomes the IGP.
The current problem between the PSC and the Force H/Q which has grounded the recruitment of the 10,000 Constables has no precedence. Usually, every recruitment is done by the PSC , in conjunction with the Police. Indeed, every policeman is an employee of the PSC.
There has never been an argument over recruitment since it’s done by both, until now when IGP Adamu and his management team suddenly insisted that it is the job of the Police to recruit.
The Police are saying that ‘to appoint’, does not mean ‘to recruit’. They say the PSC’s job is to issue letters of appointment after the recruitment. The Police is citing the Police Act. But the PSC is citing the Constitution, which is superior to the Act, and so over-rides it.
The surprising thing is that both did the recent recruitment together, as has always been the case. But thereafter, the PSC accused the Police, of deceiving it by cunningly, taking the list of recruits from it, boycotted the Commission, and on its own, invited successful applicants for medicals.
The PSC protested, and called the Police to order. The Commission’s protest was met by a deafening silence from the Police. The Police worsened the situation by releasing the names of successful candidates, to the shock of the PSC.
In response to the affront, the Commission queried the DIG, Training, Yakubu Jubrin. But the IGP stopped him from answering to the query. Instead, he wrote to the PSC, saying the DIG acted on his instructions.
Things have since been happening in quick succession. The DIG has dragged the Commission to court, challenging its right to query him. The Commission has, also, gone to court, challenging what it calls the Police’s impunity. At a point, angry PSC staff, taken aback by the Police’s action, stopped work, locked their offices, and effectively grounded Police activities as they concerned retirement, promotions and discipline.
And, a few days ago, the PSC Chairman, Musilisu Smith, IGP, rtd, wrote a letter to the President’s Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari, protesting the brazen impunity by the Police. He accused them of forcefully taking away the job of the PSC.
The Police, which released the results and asked successful candidates to proceed to training, inspite of a court injunction which restrained them, perhaps, based on Smith’s letter, suddenly asked them to hold on, and wait for the final approval of the list from the IGP, who was out of the country at the time it was released.
But reports say they stopped the candidates because the Presidency may have intervened in the needless mess. Nigerians are not amused.
They say that if, indeed, the Presidency intervened, it took forever to do so. Said a retired police officer who does not want to be identified: “This mess should not have been allowed to last this long. The Presidency should have called both parties to order.
From the beginning, both parties do recruitment together, why should this be different now? We have security challenges. The Police have a shortage of manpower, and these guys are fighting over nothing. The Presidency is to blame. It should put its house in order.
A word from the President, and this nonsense would have long been sorted out. But he was indifferent, as if it doesn’t matter. It matters very much as it would also help take 10,000 youths off the unemployment market. But he kept quiet and allowed them to mess him up. In any other country, heads would have rolled”.
But even the list released by the Police has come under heavy criticism by a number of Nigerians, including States. They are accusing the Police of rubbishing the Federal character, and corrupting the list of candidates.
The PSC insists the list of successful candidates released by the Police is a shame. They say over 300 of those whose names appeared on the list neither applied for recruitment, nor took the examination. Meaning: they are strange names used to substitute the names of those who applied, took the examination, and passed. It’s corruption and one of the reasons the Police should not be allowed to recruit, a PSC staff told this magazine. The PSC, also, revealed that the principle of federal character was not adhered to.
On that, two state governments – Borno and Bauchi – have protested, alleging they were short-changed. Other states are warming up to do the same.
Police recruitment, in recent years, has been on local government basis. Each LGAÂ gets equal number of recruits. Kano state, with 44 LGAs, always got the highest number, while Bayelsa State with only eight LGAs always got the least.
In the released list, that was not case. Nasarawa state, the home state of both the IGP and the DIG Training, with 13 LGAs , only, got the lion’s share of 528 recruits. The question: On what basis?
Not a few people are, therefore, accusing IGP Adamu and DIG Jibrin of brazen nepotism. “How can Nasarawa state have more number of recruits than even Kano state?”, asked an angry Usman Abulraheem from Kano state.
As if that was not enough, the allegation is strong that over 240 recruits from Nasarawa did not apply for recruitment. The questions then are: Who recruited them? If they did not apply, how did their names appear?
The PSC and a number of people are also accusing the IGP of encouraging insubordination. “By asking DIG Jubrin not to reply the query from the PSC, the IGP is clearly encouraging insubordination to constituted authority. The PSC was right to have queried him. He should respond,” advanced a retired DIG.
He was also shocked that IGP Adamu, who was a Superintendent of Police, SP, when the Chairman of the PSC, Musilusi Smith, was the IGP, “could treat Smith with so much disrespect.”
But a number of serving Police officers told this magazine that as soon as Smith was appointed the PSC Chairman, they knew there would be a problem. Said one ASP, “It was during his tenure as the IGP that some Policemen went on strike. Our promotions were affected. Now, as the Chairman of the PSC, there is trouble and, again, our promotions are being delayed. There must be something wrong with his administrative competence”.
Worried by the situation, former IGPs, led by the immediate past Chairman of the PSC, Mike Okiro, are trying very hard to broker peace between the PSC  and the Force Headquarters.
Whether that will work is a long shot. For now, it seems that only the court action instituted by the PSC, or a decisive pronouncement by the Presidency, would solve the problem. For now, as the saying goes, the sh.t has already hit the fan.
