President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been urged to as a matter of urgency, order a thorough investigation into the entire Police Constable recruitment exercise and punish whoever is found wanting.
The call is coming as the controversy over the recruitment of Constables into the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) between the office of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and the Police Service Commission (PSC) over alleged corruption in the exercise rages on.
The call was made by a group known as North-East Youth and Elders Peoples Forum (NEYEPF) which addressed a press conference in Bauchi on Sunday.
National Chairman of the Group, Alhaji Salihu Magaji, who addressed Journalists, said: “If any of the members of the PSC recruitment committee have their hands not clean, Mr President should redeploy all of them from the Commission and replace them, he should punish the offenders according to their offences and transfer the remaining to other Ministries.”
Magaji said that the President should also reward the IGP for refusing to accept unqualified newly recruited policemen into the Force because his action has protected the integrity of the Police.
According to him, “Kayode Egbetokun did the right thing by rejecting the result of the recruitment exercise which was marred by alleged corruption and irregularities.”
The group, therefore, expressed its backing for the IGP, Olukayode Egbetokun, over the alarm he raised concerning the whole exercise and was commended for raising the alarm to ensure that only qualified people were recruited into the Force.
Magaji said that those calling for the sack of the IGP are “self-centred people who are saying all these to cover the allegations raised over the conduct of the exercise.”
According to him, “For any patriotic citizen, once vital allegations are made by a strong capacity stakeholder on an exercise like one raised by the IGP, he deserved to be respected, listened to and steps taken to address the anomalies observed in the interest of Nigeria and for the hitch-free success of the exercise”.
He also said that the IGP, before he raised the alarm and called for a review, must have received a series of complaints and allegations of corruption raised by unsuspecting candidates and stakeholders on the irregularities that marred the exercise most especially the disappearance of the names of screened candidates who were successful to the last stage.
According to him, “the PSC portal was subsequently scrutinised and it was discovered 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.”
He also said that the published list contained several names of candidates who “failed either the computer-based test (CBT) or the physical screening exercise or both”.
Salihu Magaji added that not even the IGP reacted without prejudice to the power of the Commission to recruit for the police as ruled by the Supreme Court but this power does not include the power to recruit unqualified and untrained individuals for the Police.
He stressed that “No patriotic Nigerian will allow this to happen except if he doesn’t have the way to call for the review or order to help the country to have credible and professional Police personnel.”
The NEYEPF Chairman said that instead of them to put the interest of the country before any other interest and support for a “total review of the process with a view to recruiting qualified, competent, trainable and productive hands that will serve the country better, they turned to unpatriotic activities by calling for the sack of the IGP for telling the truth. Their action is unpatriotic, and it becomes clear suspicion that there is something they want to hide.”
He then commended the IGP for his efforts to provide internal security by protecting the lives and properties of citizens through commitment and the exemplary leadership style he exhibited.
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