The recent public spat between the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) and the Police Service Commission (PSC) over who has the powers to recruit police constables, has fuelled the need for the intervention of the Supreme Court on the matter..

Trouble started when the advertisements by the PSC calling on interested applicants for recruitment of police constables went viral.

But in a swift reaction, the NPF issued a counter statement informing the public that the exercise was false, adding that it had not commenced any recruitment into the Force contrary to a publication by the PSC.

The statement signed by the Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), Olumuyiwa Adejobi, urged Nigerians to ignore the publication, claiming that the NPF is the appropriate agency responsible for police recruitment.

Adejobi said: “The Nigeria Police Force wishes to inform well-meaning members of the public that it has not commenced the 2022 police constables recruitment into the Nigeria Police Force contrary to a publication on Page 21 of Daily Sun Newspaper of Thursday, August 11, 2022 by the PSC.

“The police similarly states unequivocally that the advert has no connection with the Nigeria Police Force nor is it in tandem with the police recruitment process, and should be disregarded in all its entirety,” the statement said.

The statement denounced the PSC website, which was advertised as the portal for the exercise, stressing that it is not associated with the Nigeria Police Force.

“The Nigeria Police Force hereby calls on all stakeholders and intending applicants to discountenance the information in both the newspaper and on the portal as the website is not the official portal for police constables recruitment,” the statement added.

Following the NPF’s reaction, the spokesman of the PSC, Ikechukwu Ani, confirmed that they had differences with the police with regards to the 2022 recruitment exercise.

According to him, “The PSC notes the publication of the Nigeria Police Force with regard to the 2022 constable recruitment exercise. The commission wishes to state that all contending issues around the exercise will be resolved between the two parties in the interest of the country.

“All interested applicants and other Nigerians desirous of a career in the Nigeria Police Force should exercise patience while these issues are being resolved. The commission will continue to strive to give Nigerians a police force they will be proud of,” Ani added.

Part 1 of the Third Schedule to the 1999 Constitution (as amended) states that 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.”

On the other hand, Section 18(1) of the Nigeria Police Act 2020, which was assented to by President Muhammadu Buhari, states that: “The responsibility for the recruitment of recruit constables into the Nigeria Police Force and recruit cadets into the Nigeria Police Academy shall be the duty of the Inspector-General of Police.”

This is not the first time the PSC and NPF would clash on the same issue. Since 2018 when President Buhari gave a nod for the recruitment of 60,000 police constables (10,000 each year), only 10,000 men have been recruited in the last four years due solely to the same disagreement.

Ideally, no fewer than 40,000 officers are supposed to have been enlisted into the Force by now to address the lingering manpower challenge the police is facing, in line with the directive of the president.

When the approval was given in 2018, the arrangement was that 10,000 men each would be recruited in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022, but the disagreement between the two organisations halted the exercise from 2019 until late last year when the issue was partially resolved.

Following the directive of the president, the police and the commission laid claims to their constitutional powers to conduct recruitment for the police.

The commission filed a suit before a Federal High Court in Abuja which was dismissed in December, 2019 for lack of merit.

In a response, the office of the Attorney General of the Federation pleaded with the court not to nullify the recruitment exercise because it has gone through significant stages with millions of naira already spent in the process.

In the application filed by the Solicitor-General of the Federation and Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Justice, Mr. Dayo Apata (SAN), the AGF argued that recruitment was not stated by the Nigerian Constitution as one of the functions of the PSC.

He contended that by the provision of Section 153(1)(m), (2) and Section 215(1)(b) and Paragraph 3 Part 1 of the Third Schedule to the Nigerian Constitution 1999 as well as sections 6 and 24 of the Police Service Commission Act, “the Police Service Commission is sole statutory body exclusively empowered and responsible for the appointment, promotion, dismissal and exercise of disciplinary control over persons holding or aspiring to hold officers in the Nigeria Police Force except the Inspector General of Police.”

However, after losing at the Federal High Court, the commission approached the Court of Appeal in Abuja, which in 2020 agreed with its prayers and nullified the recruitment of 10,000 police constables. It held that the Police Act relied on by the IG “is null and void being in conflict with the constitutional powers vested in the Police Service Commission.”

Justice Emmanuel Akomaye Agim, one of the three justices of the court, in his concurrent judgment, ruled that Paragraph 30 of part 1 of the Third Schedule to the 1999 constitution gives the power to the commission to appoint persons into offices in the Nigeria Police “and does not exclude constables and cadets to the Nigeria Police Academy.”

However, the then Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, approached the Supreme Court in October 2020 where he appealed the judgment.

He contended, through Counsel to the NPF, Dr. Alex Izinyon (SAN), that the Court of Appeal “erred in law when it held that the provision of Section 71 of the Nigeria Police Regulations 1968 made pursuant to Section 46 of the Police Act is inconsistent with the provision of paragraph 30 Part I of the Third Schedule to the 1999 Constitution.”

But the appeal was stalled following the police filing its brief out of time. The organisation subsequently regularised its filings in June 2022, with the appellant brief served on the respondents.

Following the disagreement, the PSC has suspended the ongoing recruitment exercise. In a statement last week, Ani said all contending issues around the exercise would be resolved between the two parties in the interest of the nation. The commission also said all interested applicants and other Nigerians desirous of a career in the Nigeria Police Force should exercise patience while these issues are being resolved.

THISDAY gathered that before the suspension of the current recruitment exercise, over 3,000 had applied through the portal.

Some of the applicants, in separate interviews, expressed their frustration and berated the authorities of the commission and the NPF, describing the disagreement between them as demoralising and unhealthy.

The Nigerian Constitution is supreme, and any law or action which is inconsistent or incompatible with any of the provisions contained in the constitution is null, void and of no effect.

Many have argued that since the PSC derives its powers from the constitution, it supersedes the Police Act which is the creation of the National Assembly, and as such, cannot take preeminence over the constitution.

It is against the background, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Dayo Akinlaja has argued that Paragraph 30 of the Third Schedule to the Nigerian Constitution, as amended arising from Section 153(2) vests the PSC with the powers to appoint persons to any office in the Nigeria Police Force other than the office of the IGP.

“I cannot therefore fathom any basis for the tussle for control of recruitment. Beyond all contradiction, the constitution is the supreme law of the nation; it follows that whatever other law that may give any perceived vestige of power to the contrary can only null and void,” he said.

In his response, the Principal Partner of Oghenevweta, Mr. Godswill Ojakovo, said in all cases, the constitution prevails over statute. He quoted Section 1 subsection 3 of The 1999 Constitution (as amended) which states clearly that “If any other law is inconsistent with the provision of the Constitution, the Constitution shall prevail, and that other law shall to the extent of the inconsistency be void.”

Quoting Justice Sylvester Onu, in the case of Governor of Oyo State v Oba Ololade Afolayan (1995)8NWLR (Part413) Page 292 SC to buttress his point, Ojakovo said the provisions of an ordinary statute are subject to and cannot render nugatory the provisions of the Constitution.

He also posited that where the provisions of an Act are inconsistent with the Constitution, the Constitution will prevail. He added that the Constitution is superior to the statute or Acts.

He further quoted the decision of Justice Galadima in Adeyanju v WAEC (2002)13NWLR (Pt 785) page 479 where he held that where the provisions of an Act are inconsistent with the Constitution, the provision of the Act and rules become void to the extent of its inconsistency.

This is why many are calling on the Supreme Court to urgently resolve the dispute between the two agencies once and for all for peace to reign. (THISDAY)

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