THE Police Service Commission (PSC) has said extending the tenures of senior retiring police officers is against existing laws.
The PSC insisted that every police officer due for retirement before the general election must leave.
It added that there could never be any leadership vacuum in the Nigeria Police Force (NPF).
The Commission said this in a statement signed by Ikechukwu Ani, Head, Press and Public Relations on Tuesday, January 24.
“Rising from a Management Meeting on Monday, January 23rd 2023, in Abuja, the Commission said the ongoing campaign for the extension of the tenures of some Deputy Inspectors General (DIGs), Assistant Inspectors General (AIGs), Commissioners (CPs) and other senior Police Officers was an unnecessary distraction and an affront on all the existing laws in the country guiding entry and exit in the public service.
“The Commission took a decision that it will not extend the tenures of the retiring senior Police Officers, stressing that even when requested, it can not do so as it is against all existing laws, the Police Act, the Police Service Commission Act and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” the PSC said.
The PSC stressed that there is an institutional succession plan in the Nigeria Police Force, especially with the current injection of 10,000 Constables and several thousands of cadet ASPs from the Police Academy every year.
The Commission assured Nigerians that there would be no vacuum in the hierarchy of the Police with the touted retirement of hundreds of senior Police Officers.
The statement added that the Commission would rigidly uphold the provisions of the law, which stipulate that a serving public Officer, whether in the Police or any other Government Agency, must exit the service at the age of 60 or after having served for a period of 35 years.
Meanwhile, on Monday, January 24, the PSC denied ever endorsing the tenure elongation of the Inspector General of Police Usman Alkali Baba.
Baba is to attain the retirement age of 60 years in March 2023.
The Commission, in a statement, said it would commit itself to the letters and spirit of the laws of the land and would not at any time support or encourage any attempt to subvert the law.
This is coming after the Police Affairs Minister, Mohammed Dingyadi, said last week that the IGP would not be retiring when he turns 60 on March 1.
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President Muhammadu Buhari appointed Baba as IGP in April 2021 after former IGP Mohammed Adamu turned 60.
The PSC is saddled with the Constitutional mandate to recruit, promote, dismiss and exercise disciplinary control over persons holding offices in the NPF.
A reporter with the ICIR
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