TheCable

A federal high court in Abuja has dismissed the suit filed by the Police Service Commission (PSC), challenging the power of Mohammed Adamu, inspector-general of police, to recruit 10,000 police officers.

In his ruling on Monday, Inyang Ekwo, the presiding judge, held that the suit lacked merit.

The PSC had taken the police to court over the recruitment of 10,000 constables. Joined as defendants in the suit were the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), minister of police affairs and Abubakar Malami, attorney general of the federation (AGF).

The IGP and the commission have been at loggerheads over the recruitment of 10,000 constables into the force.

The crisis festered as the two parties could not agree on who has the mandate to carry out the exercise.

The commission prayed the court for an order of interlocutory injunction restraining the defendants from “appointing, recruiting or attempting to appoint or recruit by any means whatsoever any person into any office by the NPF pending the hearing and determination of the substantive suit.”

PSC had submitted that none of the respondents is authorised by law to play any role “in the appointment, promotion, dismissal or exercise of disciplinary measures over persons holding or aspiring to hold offices in the Nigeria Police Force”.

Kanu Agabi, counsel representing PSC, in his argument, said there was no distinction between recruitment and appointment as claimed by the AGF’s counsel.

He added that there is no constitutional backing that empowers the IGP to recruit police officers.