Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have condemned the removal of retired Inspector-General of Police, Dr Solomon Arase, as Chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC). They, therefore, called on President Bola Tinubu to reverse the action without delay, saying that his removal contravenes the PSC Act.
The organisations also chided the President for disregarding the rule of law and called on the National Assembly to maximise its powers of checks and balances on the Executive.
The CSOs, which include the Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC), NOPRIN Foundation, Confluence of Rights, Nigeria, Criminal Justice Network of Nigeria, among others, expressed worry that such a decision by the President could further undermine the independence, effectiveness, and confidence of the Commission to discharge its mandate without undue interference as stipulated by the PSC Act.
“Civil society is saddened that this is coming at a time when we are investing a lot of resources in support of the Federal Government towards police reform, which can be seen through various trainings supported by local and international partners and the recent recruitment of 10,000 police personnel.
“While we welcome this recruitment, we are worried about the renewed and needless controversy associated with the power games around police recruitment despite the Supreme Court’s judgment of July 11, 2023, which affirmed the power of the commission under the Police Service Commission (Establishment) Act, 2001 to handle police recruitment functions,” they stated.
The CSOs noted that Section 6 sub-section 2 of the PSC Act stipulates that the Commission shall not be subjected to the direction, control or supervision of any other authority or person in the performance of its functions other than as is prescribed in the Act, and said that the controversy would not serve the interest of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) as an institution or the interest of the country.
The CSOs further called for a conclusion of the police recruitment process, including training and deployment.
