By Chinedu Obike
A Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has established that the Inspector General of Police (IGP) lacks the power to authorise recruitment into the force.
Recall that the recruitment of 10,000 constables last year, by the IGP, Mohammed Adamu, has been a subject of litigation between the Police Service Commission and the Inspector General of Police/ the Nigeria Police Force.
A 3-man panel of the Court of Appeal, led by Justice Olabisi Ige, unanimously held that the power to recruit constables lies with the Police Service Commission and not the IGP.
In the wake of the recruitment of the 10,000 constables last year, the Police Service Commission had approached a Federal High Court, with a plea for the nullification of the exercise, but the court ruled in favour of the IGP and the Nigeria Police Force (NPF).
In its determination to assert superiority and assume the responsibility to recruit, the PSC asked the court of Appeal to set aside the verdict of the lower court.
The court agreed with Chief Kanu Agabi, who represented the PSC that the word “appointment” used in the constitution, with respect to the powers conferred on the Police Service Commission, included the “power of recruitment and or enlistment of recruit constables” and so declared as “null and void” the exercise carried out by the IGP.
Unless the Supreme Court rules otherwise, some observers say, the 10,000 constables who benefited from the exercise have, by the verdict, been thrown back into the job market and if they have already been trained in gun handling, may constitute a social problem.
Similarly, they say, the litigation exercise has shown that all is not well in the relationship between the Police Service Commission and the body it superintends, the Nigerian Police Force.