PSC withdraws Naja’atu Muhammad from election duties

The Police Service Commission (PSC) has withdrawn the appointment of Naja’atu Muhammad as one of the commissioners to oversee the activities of the police during the general election.

Ikechukwu Ani, the PSC spokesperson, announced the development in a statement on Monday.

On Sunday, Muhammad was listed as one of the PSC commissioners that will oversee the activities of the police during the general election.

But the APC presidential campaign council rejected the appointment on the grounds that she had declared support for Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The APC campaign council said the role given to Muhammad requires her to be unbiased, adding she had made some “vitriol” comments against Bola Tinubu, the party’s standard bearer.

In January, Muhammad, a former senatorial candidate, said she resigned from the APC and quit partisan politics — but the party claimed she was sacked and accused her of being a mole.

She, however, later endorsed Abubakar.

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In the statement on Monday, PSC said Muhammad has been replaced by Bawa Lawal, an assistant inspector-general of police.

“The commission wishes to state with all sense of responsibility that its commissioners representing different geopolitical zones have always supervised assignments of the commission in the geopolitical zones they represent,” the statement reads.

“It was the same with the present national assignment.

“The commission has however decided to mandate assistant inspector-general of police, Bawa Lawal rtd, who is from the same geopolitical zone with commissioner Najatu to take over the coordination of the monitoring of police conduct in the zone.

“The commission will always be sensitive to the wishes of Nigerians and will continue to contribute its quota to the sustenance of the nation’s democracy.

“It wishes to restate its commitment to a free and fair 2023 elections where the police as the lead agency in internal security which includes election policing will discharge its duties according to the dictates of the law.”