Just in: Ex-IGP Musiliu Smith resigns as police service commission chairman

Chairman of the Police Service Commission, Musiliu Smith, has resigned his appointment.

Smith, a retired inspector general of police, had been at loggerheads with the current IGP, Baba Usman, over the recruitment of constables into the Nigeria Police Force by the commission.

He was said to have resigned on the grounds of ill health.

The next most senior commissioner in the PSC, a retired Supreme Court Justice, Clara Ogunbiyi, who is representling the Judiciary, has assumed duty as chairman.

Spokesman for the commission, Ikechukwu Ani, confirmed the resignation, adding that an official statement from the commission giving details would be issued (tomorrow) Thursday.

The disagreement beteeen the Inspector General of Police, Baba Usman, and the PSC was over the 2022 police recruitment of 10,000 constables.

The commission in 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.

But the Nigerian Police Force in a statement by the Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Muyiwa Adejobi, had asked Nigerians to disregard the advertisement.

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

The statement had read, “The Nigeria Police Force wishes to inform well-meaning members of the public that it has not commenced the 2022 Police Constables Recruitment into the Nigeria Police Force contrary to a publication on Page 21 of a National Daily of Thursday August 11, 2022 by the Police Service Commission (PSC).

“The police similarly state unequivocally that the advert has no connection with the Nigeria Police Force nor is it in tandem with the police recruitment process, and should be disregarded in all its entirety.

“The website to which the publication refers intending 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.”

Notwithstanding 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, Ani 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.