Police, PSC Not Fighting But We Can’t Allow Those Who Will Commit Suicide To Be Recruited Into The Force – IGP

The Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, has emphasized that there is no fight between the Police Force and the Police Service Commission (PSC), over the just concluded recruitment of constables.

The IGP noted that the Force only noticed some discrepancies in the recruitment conducted as well as the calibre of those recruited and made its mind known to the commission.

Egbetokun emphasized that the Police Force can not just fold its hands and allow the wrong set of people to be recruited as Police officers as if such is allowed, it is a recipe for future disaster.

Naija News reports the IGP made the submission on Thursday during his meeting with commanders in Abuja.

He added that the Supreme Court, in its wisdom, has given the authority on recruitment to the PSC, but the force must be carried along as a major stakeholder in the process.

Recall that the police had, in a statement on Saturday by the Force Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, rejected the list of successful candidates released by the commission, adding that it was marred by corruption and other irregularities.

In response to the IGP allegations, the Joint Union Congress of the Police Service Commission chairman, Adoyi Adoyi, denied the allegations and called for the removal of Egbetokun as the IGP.

In his reaction to the saga during Thursday’s meeting, IGP Egbetokun said: “The wise men sitting at the Supreme Court, while ruling on the controversial and questionable issue surrounding police recruitment, gave the final authority to the police to the Police Service Commission. There is no problem with that.

“The judgment of the Supreme Court is sound, clear and unambiguous. The issue lies elsewhere. The Supreme Court in its wisdom, recognizing that the police is the end user of this recruitment, did not exclude the police from participating in the recruitment exercise into the police force.

“So it is expected that while recruiting into the police force by the commission, the police will be carried along.

He added that, “The Inspector General Police of Nigeria leads the largest police force in Africa. Over 300,000 officers and men look up to him for guidance and for leadership.

“He cannot sit down and look on and see how recruitment into the police force is anyhow. He cannot afford to disappoint the officers and men that he is leading. He has a duty to ensure quality recruitment into the police.

“And that includes quality participation of the police in the recruitment exercise. And that is exactly what we are doing. We are doing everything possible to make sure that qualified and capable individuals are recruited into the police.

“The problems we are having with the police now start with the recruitment. If we don’t pay attention to recruitment, a disaster is awaiting us. We can’t sit here as members of the force management team and allow that to happen.

“And that is why we are raising issues when we see issues. The First Bureau made an announcement earlier. And we have also written to the Police Service Commission expressing our concerns with the published list of successful candidates in the exercise.

“So there is no fight between the police and the Police Service Commission. The police will play their role. The Police Service Commission will play their role

“We recognize the power of the Commission to recruit for the police. We respect that power. And what we are doing is without prejudice to the powers of the Police Service Commission to recruit for the police.

“But for us to sit down and allow individuals with bad eyesight, we can’t afford to recruit deaf and dumb into the police. Don’t get me wrong. Deaf and dumb are human beings.

“They can get jobs elsewhere. But for now, in the Nigerian police, we don’t have space for them. Maybe later in the future we will start, because modern policing is inclusive, in future we may say, okay, we want to start recruiting people with disabilities into the police.

“By then, we will have made special arrangements for their training, so that they will come and function well in the police. We don’t want to recruit people who commit suicide in the police. The police job is too sensitive.

“So we have to be careful with the kind of people we recruit into the police. And that’s what we are saying. So we are not fighting anybody,” The IGP, said.