Musiliu Smith resigns as Police Service Commission’s Chairman

Police Service Commission (PSC) Chairman, Retired Inspector General of Police, Musiliu Smith has resigned his appointment.

The retired IGP who had been at loggerhead with the Police Hierarchy over the organization constitutionally responsible for the recruitment of Constables into the Nigerian Police Force, was said to have resigned on the grounds of ill health.

In the interim, the second most senior Commissioner in the PSC, Retired Supreme Court Justice Clara Ogunbiyi, who is representing the Judiciary, has assumed duty as Chairman.

Spokesman of the Commission, Ikechukwu Ani of the development, confirmed the resignation but noted that an official statement from the commission, noting that details will be issued on Thursday.

Recall that there has been disagreement between the Inspector General of Police, Alkali Baba Usman, and Police Service Commission over the 2022 Police recruitment exercise for 10,000 Constables.

The Police Service Commission had in the month of August, opened its portal for the recruitment of police constable for the year 2022 and placed an advert on the recruitment in a national daily.

However, in response to the development, the Nigeria Police Force in a statement by the Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Muyiwa Adejobi had asked Nigerians to disregard the advertisement and call for applications.

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Adejobi had said the advert had no connection with the Nigeria Police Force and was not in tandem with the police recruitment process.

“The website to which the publication refers to candidates – http://www.recruitment.psc.gov.ng – is not associated with the Nigeria Police Force.

“The Nigeria Police Force hereby calls on all stakeholders and intending applicants to discountenance the information in both the newspaper and on the portal as the website is not the official portal for Police Constables recruitment.

“The Nigeria Police Force thereby assures well-meaning Nigerians that the commencement of the 2022 recruitment exercise will be announced via the official police e-recruitment website – https://policerecruitment.gov.ng, the Nigeria Police Force official website – https://www.npf.gov.ng, and advertisements on national dailies and official police social media accounts as and when due.”

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However, despite the stance of the Police headquarters, the PSC recruitment portal for constables into the Nigeria Police has been running with over 60,000 applications received.

Confirming this in a statement last week, Mr Ikecchukwu Ani, the Head of Press and Public Relations PSC said the commission had no intention to abdicate its constitutional mandate to recruit Nigerians into the Police Force.

He urged interested Nigerians to continue to avail themselves of the opportunity to pursue a career in the Nigeria Police Force adding that the portal, which was opened on Aug. 15, would be closed on Aug. 26.

During the regime of former IGP, Mohammed Adamu, the same scenario played out and the PSC Chairman, Alhaji Musiliu Smith, were at loggerheads over which body is allowed by law to carry out the recruitment process.

The commission then dragged the former IGP and the Force to court for conducting the recruitment exercise of 10,000 constables in 2019.