The Joint Union Congress also alleged that police tried to smuggle over 1,000 unqualified candidates into the recruitment list.
The Joint Union Congress of the Police Service Commission(PSC) has called on President Bola Timubu to immediately relieve the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, of his position for alleged unethical behaviour and misconduct, which it said could destroy the peace of the country.
It also called on the Force Spokesperson, Muyiwa Adejobi, to publicly apologise to the commission within seven days over his alleged unprofessional, false and misleading press releases to Nigerians on the recent recruitment of police constables.
The union made the call at a press conference in Abuja on Wednesday.
"We begin with this press conference, with a clarion call on the President and Commander in Chief of the Armed forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to immediately relieve the IGP, Kayode Egbetokun, of his appointment as IGP.
"Our concern comes from the fact that a public officer who misleads the president is causing confusion in the country and may lead to chaos, which is antithetical to his duty as a police officer," its chairperson, Adoji Adoyi, said.
The union comprises the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigerians (ASCSN) and the Nigeria Civil Service Union (NCSU).
Its demands are coming following the recent rejection by the Force of the just-concluded recruitment of constables.
After the list of successful candidates was published by the PSC, the police, through a statement by Mr Adejobi on 15 June, announced that the process was tainted by corruption and irregularities.
Consequently, the commission disowned the statement of the police on its official website.
It directed the police to conduct a thorough investigation of the statement made and the processes as it had the power to.
"The Police Service Commission wishes to disown the trending press statement in social media on the release of the final shortlist of successful applicants for recruitment into the constable cadre of the Nigeria Police Force."
"The Commission is aware that the Force Public Relations Officer, who was quoted to have signed the Press Statement on releasing the final list of successful applicants, has since disowned the statement.
Emphasising the press statement published by the security agency, the commission directs the police to investigate the source of the news as it has the power to."
Recruitment is PSC's responsibility
The Joint Union Congress said it is the constitutional and statutory responsibility of the PSC to recruit qualified Nigerians as police constables in line with the constitution and the PSC (Establishment, etc.) Act of 2001, affirmed by the judgement of the Supreme Court.
It said the allegation of fraud and other unwholesome acts against the commission are untrue and that the media trial embarked upon by the NPF was meant to achieve clandestine motives.
"The allegations of fraud and several other unwholesome acts levelled against the Police Service Commission (PSC) and its staff are, to say the least, unfounded, spurious, speculative and most irresponsible, especially by the way the allegations were thrown into the public space, even before official channel of communication for dealing with such a matter was exhaustively explored.
"The Police Service Commission and the Nigeria Police Force are both responsible agencies of the Federal Government that should demonstrate integrity to inspire public trust and confidence in the discharge of their respective mandates.
"The quick and sinister resort to media trial by the police authorities is a subterranean plot to achieve clandestine motive. We condemn this action because it is most unwarranted, and we urge the general public to frown at it," it said.
Police tried to smuggle over 1,000 candidates into the list
The union alleged that the NPF tried to manipulate credible information in the recruitment processes by smuggling in over 1,000 unqualified candidates into the list.
"Let us also emphasise the untruth in the allegation of the Police Force that the final list of successful candidates was loaded with names of non-applicants.
"We have been furnished with reliable information indicating that elements within the Police Force attempted to smuggle over 1,000 names into the recruitment list.
"This manipulation was a grave breach of the recruitment process and a calculated attempt to undermine the credibility of the entire exercise.
"It is also instructive to note that the sequence of events that culminated into the release of the damning Press Release was a calculated attempt to discredit, disorganise and usurp the commission's mandate and its powers," it said.
The union also said shortly after the PSC released the list of successful candidates, the police authorities wrote to the commission to express their objection to the recruitment they were part and parcel of from beginning to end.
"This was followed by the removal of the commission's chairman out of clandestine political conspiracy alluding to baseless allegations. The third event in quick succession was the press release that was out to subject Commission to media trial without exhausting the official channels of communication," it said.
The real issue
The Joint Union Congress claimed the police reaction was a tactic to sabotage and divert the attention on its (police) non-preparedness to open schools for the training of successful recruits, despite the availability of funds."
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It said, "The wild allegation of fraud levelled against the Commission is a deliberate effort to divert attention from the real issues. The Nigeria Police Force seeks to leverage this allegation to divert attention from their non-preparedness to open Police Training Schools for the training of successful recruits despite the availability of funds for the training.
"Their unwillingness to deploy funds as appropriated for the training schools is suspicious and should be investigated. As a strategy to cover-up, the Nigeria Police Force has resorted to a wild goose chase and needless war of attrition against the Commission."
"We challenge the Nigeria Police Force to immediately come clean and submit itself to accountability and probity as the commission has it on good authority, that the training colleges which are supposed to accommodate the successful candidates are not in good order to receive the candidates for training. An inspection of these facilities will show that they are not fit for human habitation."
The union passed a vote of confidence on its former Chairperson, Solomon Arase, who was removed from office last week.
It described him as a man marked by excellence for his impact in the successful completion of the police constable recruitment of 2022.
PREMIUM TIMES had reported the sack of Mr Arase, a former IGP, and replaced him with Hashimu Argungu, a retired deputy inspector general of police.
