The battle between the Nigeria Police Force leadership and the Police Service Commission is becoming messier as the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, has told the PSC that it has no powers to query the Deputy Inspectors-General of Police.
Sunday PUNCH learnt on Saturday that the IG pointedly informed the PSC in a letter that the DIGs were not under its control, contrary to the Police Service Commission Establishment Act 2001.
Among other functions, the Act says the PSC “shall be responsible for the appointment and promotion of persons to offices (other than the office of the Inspector-General of Police) in the Nigeria Police Force; dismiss and exercise disciplinary control over persons (other than the IG) and formulate policies and guidelines for the appointment, promotion, discipline and dismissal of officers of the Nigeria Police Force.”
Findings indicated that the IG’s letter was informed by the query issued by the PSC to the DIG in charge of Training and Development, Yakubu Jubrin, for alleged misconduct some weeks ago.
An impeccable source disclosed that Adamu responded to the query on behalf of Jubrin, stating that the commission could not issue queries to the DIG.
Following the police’s insistence on recruiting 10,000 constables on the grounds that it was their constitutional right the commission had queried Jubrin for releasing the names of successful candidates and inviting them for medical screening without its permission.
The source said, “Are you aware that we queried the DIG, Training and Development, for misconduct? Well, the IG responded on his behalf, saying the DIG was not under the commission and that he (DIG) was working on his (IG) instructions. The DIG was supposed to have retired from service on October 1, but we learnt that he is still coming to work in uniform.”
The official added, “The commission has frozen promotions and retirements in the police until the disagreement with the force is resolved. This means all retiring police officers cannot process their benefits because they have to obtain letters of retirement from the commission. Everything has stalled on account of this crisis and nobody in the government is saying anything.”
