Appeal court nullifies recruitment of 10,000 constables by IGP

The Court of Appeal in Abuja has nullified the recruitment of 10,000 Constables carried out by the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, in 2019.

In a unanimous judgement on Wednesday, a three-man panel of the appellate court, led by Olabisi Ige, held that the IGP lacked the power to make the recruitment for the Force.

The court held that the power to carry out the recruitment was exclusively that of the Police Service Commission.

The judgment upturned the December 2, 2019 verdict of a Federal High Court in Abuja, which upheld the powers of the IGP to carry out the said recruitment.

In a suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1124/2019, filed before the High Court in September 2019, the PSC had argued that the IGP by law has no role to play “in the appointment, promotion, dismissal or exercise of disciplinary measures over persons holding or aspiring to hold offices in the Nigeria Police Force”.

They prayed the court to nullify the recruitment process already commenced by the NPF and the IGP.