THE Police Service Commission (PSC) has confirmed that many officers of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) are set to resign following the conclusion of a disciplinary panel.
According to media reports, 340 were affected. These officers remained in service beyond the mandatory retirement age of 60 or after completing 35 years of service. Their continued stay prompted the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, to set up a disciplinary panel to address the matter.
The affected officers have proceeded on retirement ahead of the submission of the disciplinary committee’s report that probed the officers’ continued stay in office.
Many of those affected are senior officers who were supposed to have retired between 2022 and 2024.
In a chat with The ICIR on Monday, February 17, the police spokesperson, Muyiwa Adejobi, said inquiries regarding the issue should be directed to the Police Service Commission (PSC).
When contacted, the PSC spokesperson, Ikechukwu Ani, confirmed the report but said he didn’t know the actual number of those affected.
“Yes, I know some of them are going on retirement but I don’t know the actual number,” he stated.
Backstory
The ICIR reported that the PSC, at a meeting in Abuja, approved the immediate retirement of officers above 60 or those who had served for 35 years.
In a statement signed by its spokesperson, Ani, on Friday, January 31, the commission at its 24th plenary meeting of 27th and 28th September 2017 had approved that recruits and other officers of the NPF should have their date of appointment in the Force against the date of their enlistment documented.
“Accordingly, the commission, at its 1st extraordinary meeting of the 6th management board held today, Friday, 31st January 2025, approved the immediate retirement of those officers who have spent more than 35 years in service and those above 60 years of age,” the PSC had said.
The decision surfaced amid controversy surrounding Egbetokun’s tenure as the police chief.
The ICIR reported Egbetokun had initially blocked the retirement of all police officers who had either exceeded 35 years in service or were above 60 years.
How National Assembly hurriedly amended Police Act to keep Egbetokun in office
The ICIR reports that Egbetokun would have been among the retired officers but for the sudden and swift amendment to the Police Act by the National Assembly.
President Bola Tinubu appointed Egbetokun as acting IGP in October 2023, pending his confirmation by the National Assembly. The appointment took effect on the 31st of the same month.
Egbetokun should have left office on September 4, 2024, the day he clocked 60.
Rather than allow him to go, the Tinubu-led Federal Government pushed a bill to amend the Police Act, which consequently paved the way for the IGP’ to remain in office for four uninterrupted years, meaning he will quit office in October 2027.
Many citizens who opposed this speedy amendment of the Police Act by the National Assembly claimed the move was to aid Tinubu, who is likely to seek a second term and use Egbetokun and the entire police to his advantage in the 2027 presidential poll before Egbetokun’s tenure will elapse.
The ICIR reports that Egbetokun was Tinubu’s chief security officer when he was Lagos State Governor in 1999.
He was promoted to deputy inspector-general of police shortly after Tinubu won the February 25, 2023, presidential election, with many Nigerians suspecting he could be the next IGP’ because of his closeness to Tinubu.
A reporter with the ICIR
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Great story.
This is awesome reporting.