Despite last years’ ruling by the Supreme Court affirming the powers of the Police Service Commission, PSC, over the recruitment of police constables for the Nigerian Police Force, NPF, the acrimony between the two institutions is not about to peter out soon.
Nothing bears this out more eloquently than the reaction of the Inspector General of Police, IGP, Olukayode Egbetokun to the list of successful 10,000 police constables just made public by the PSC. The PSC had in a statement on July 4 said it received the report of the Police Recruitment Board in which 9,000 candidates were approved for recruitment for general duty with 1,000 candidates recruited for the specialist cadre.
The PSC also clarified that it ensured justice and fairness in the recruitment exercise by working with guidance from relevant stakeholders, including the NPF, the National Assembly and the Federal Character Commission. This it said, “ensured equity in the spread of successful candidates across the 774 local government areas of the country”.
It also went at length to show all the processes leading to the conduct of the Computer Based Test by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board JAMB, interviews, medical screening and conclusion of the exercise, apparently to underscore the integrity and credibility of the exercise.
But all these did not seem to impress the NPF. The IGP in a statement by the Force Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi was quick to launch a damning attack on the recruitment process. He bandied several damaging allegations against the processes leading to the recruitment of successful police constables in the 2022/23 exercise.
Specifically, the NPF alleged 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. The list is also said to contain names of candidates who failed either the Computer Based Test or the physical screening and worse still, those disqualified after being found medically unfit.
That is not all. “Most worrisome is the allegation of financial dealings and corrupt practices leading to the outcome where unqualified and untrainable individuals have been shortlisted”, the IGP further alleged. The IGP clarified that he wrote to the chairman of the PSC citing these irregularities not because he is not aware of the powers of the PSC on such matters, but because he takes the final blame for the performance of these recruits.
These are very serious and weighty allegations that impugn the credibility and integrity of the recruitment exercise if proven to be true. The PSC was not quick in responding to the grave allegations by the IGP. Its response came days after the Joint Union Congress of the PSC entered the fray calling on President Tinubu to relieve the IGP of his job for allegedly giving out misleading information capable of causing chaos.
The union described the allegations of fraud and other unwholesome practices against the PSC and the staff as unfounded, spurious and most irresponsible especially given the very way they were thrown into the public space. They claimed that contrary to the allegations, some elements within the police force attempted to smuggle in over 1,000 names into the recruitment list but failed.
They shared the same positions with the PSC which in its reaction to the allegations by the IGP, reaffirmed the integrity of the recruitment exercise with a call for President Tinubu’s intervention and resolution of the matter. The IGP was challenged to prove his allegations.
The starting point for this proof is for the list of successful candidates and that of the police to be subjected to forensic audit using the Computer Based Test results conducted by the Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board JAMB, the PSC demanded.
So, we are left with allegations qua allegations which seemingly render the matter complex. But we are not entirely helpless.
The CBT result is supposed to come before physical examination and medical test. If that is the case, while the CBT result will be handy is authenticating all those that duly passed the exams, it is of little value in providing reliable information on the physical and medical eligibility of the candidates.
There is the third dimension which deals with the broader issues of corruption and financial dealings leading to outcomes where unqualified and untrainable individuals were shortlisted. The latter may be hard to prove but cannot be ruled out given the pervasiveness of the malfeasance in public offices.
Allegations that individuals who neither applied nor took part in the recruitment exercise made the list of successful candidates are provable and the IGP has to show evidence of them. The same applies to those who failed the CBT, physical screening and medical tests but got appointed. The issue has gotten to the public domain. No attempt should be made to sweep them under the carpet.
One is not inclined to believe that the NPF could bandy these claims if they do not have the facts correct. That would amount to a serious indictment on that key institution. The credibility of the IGP is at stake. And the only way out is for President Tinubu to order serious investigations into the issues in contention.
It is important to get at the root of the embarrassing allegations bandied by both agencies of the government because of their larger repercussions on the image of the police force. Ours is a police force that is embroiled in serious credibility and image deficits.
A few years ago, public mistrust against the police had snowballed into riots of serious magnitude leading to destruction of lives and property. At the end of the riots tagged #EndSARS, the police authorities went back to the drawing board.
They set out to address the plethora of challenges that plagued that institution, improve its overall image and align its men and officers to the demands of the contemporary environment. The altercation between the IGP and the PSC are sad reminders to that image of the police Nigerians abhor.
There is the temptation to blame the IGP for not coming to terms with the reality of the Supreme Court ruling and the constitutional provision on recruitment into the police force. That may not be completely ruled out. But that should neither whittle down nor blur the larger issues in respect of unwholesome practices in the recent recruitment of police constables.
Yes, such recruitments are within the purview of the PSC. But those recruited will work with and be supervised by the IGP. That should presuppose that he should have a role to play in the process irrespective of what the laws say.
It is possible for the PSC to counter this on the ground that the police institution was fully represented in the recruitment board. That could pass on face value. But it is not all there is to it. There is the need for confidence-building and synergy between the office of the IGP and the PSC. Rigidity to rules or lack of consultation with the IGP directly will prove unhelpful in the circumstance.
There is insinuation in the reaction of the PSC that the IGP is dragging feet on the commencement of the training of the constables. This could be dangerous. But it is the type of relationship you get in situations where agencies whose jobs are coordinate find themselves embroiled in power play supremacy. The police institution is worse for such stained relationships.
Perhaps, we may need to go beyond the offices of the IGP and the PSC to locate possible sources of the alleged discrepancies in the list released by the commission. The PSC claimed it worked with the guidelines from stakeholders including the National Assembly and the Federal Character commission.
One can understand the role of the Federal Character Commission in this assignment but not that of the National Assembly. There is need for clarification on the specific roles played by our lawmakers in this recruitment process. Or was the process politicised as members strove to ensure their constituencies are fully represented?
Only a high powered investigation can unveil the real source of the allegations by the IGP. But we must save the police institution from undue influences capable of impairing its efficiency.
