Leading Civil Rights Advocacy group, the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), has described as unconstitutional and incurably illegal, the recent announcement by the Chairman of the police service commission, former Inspector-General of Police Solomon Arase that he has promoted some Police operatives. HURIWA said the pronouncement is deceptive and inappropriate because the police service commission is without a validly existing governing board as unambiguously provided for by the law.

HURIWA called on President Tinubu to stop the continuous rape and serial abuses of the constitution by the Chairman of the PSC who is running a one-man show at the place and dishing out unmerited promotions to police operatives whilst professionalism declines and crass indiscipline overwhelm the institution of the Nigeria police force just as the Rights group said the Police Service commission being an executive body statutorily created by the constitution, the agency must at all times be with the full compliment of a governing board made up of at least 7 members or at most 9 board members. “Why is the president who is the appointing authority finding it so difficult to make these appointments, send to the National Assembly for ratification and guide against abuses of the constitution?”

“These one-man show by the retired IGP Solomon Arase are all illegal. The constitution and the enabling Act does not recognize management or one man rule at the Commission. It must be by a Board of minimum of 7 and maximum of 9, with representatives of the Six geopolitical zones and various interest groups as Media, Organized Private Sector, Women Group, the Judiciary, Human Rights/ NGOs and the Police. Whatever is done by the present management essentially dominated by one man being the chairman, must be reviewed and subject to approval by a properly constituted Board in future. But must the president keep delaying in re-constituting a full board for the PSC and then allow the chairman to run the place like a sole administrator when in law the statutory provisions specify the formation of a governing board? We are asking the president to please bring these cocktails of illegality to an end or be ready for law suits from civil rights advocacy groups.”

HURIWA said that the public announcement purporting to claim that the Police Service Commission (PSC), had approved the promotion of 1,607 Deputy Superintendents of Police (DSPs), to the next rank of Superintendents of Police (SPs), is an illegality since there is no governing board in place because all but one board member representing South East and the Chairman are still legally in position as members of the board of PSC because their tenures of offices are still in place but the rest have all left. The idea that a one-man management acting as the board to do the duties of the governing council as enunciated in the extant enabling Act setting up the PSC is an unmitigated disaster and must be arrested forthwith except if Nigeria under President Tinubu has become lawless and directionless.”

HURIWA charged President Tinubu thus: “Mr. President, please reconstitute the governing board of the police service commission. It is a massive anathema that a body that should enforce professional codes of conducts and guard against misconduct by the police operatives up to the rank of Deputy Inspector-General of Police, is right now being turned into a cesspool of misconduct and an organised fiasco/confusion and being allowed to deteriorate in quality control. The illegality going on at the police service commission is such that have brought opprobrium and shame internationally to Nigeria. The ball is in the court of the president to reconstitute the council and stop the dictatorship of the chairman of PSC.”

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