Irked by last week’s directive of the Police Service Commission, PSC, that no fewer than 197 police officers should proceed on compulsory retirement over what the Commission attributed to the attainment of the Statutory 60 years of age, 35 years of service and falsification of age, colleagues of the affected have condemned the directive by PSC, insisting that they would do anything legal to ensure that justice was done with regards to the matter.
At the Force headquarters this week, the retirement issue was the subject of discussion by officers and the rank and file. A good number of policemen and women seen discussing the issue condemned the directive, as only a few supported the action of PSC.
From the ground floor to the Seventh floor of the Louis Edet House on Alhaji Shehu Shagari Way, a group of police officers were not only heard discussing the matter but heard vowing to take every legal measure to seek redress for their colleagues “unjustly retired.”
On the Fourth floor, a group of police officers consisting of a Chief Superintendent of Police, CSP, two Deputy superintendents of Police, and DSPs were overheard saying, “Good lawyers would help our colleagues in this issue since “Force Entrants” matter was resolved at the Appeal Court in 2017. Can PSC annul or take precedence over Court ruling”? They asked.
Another group of officers met at the office of a top cop on the Sixth floor while craving anonymity, told this reporter and his colleagues that the directive by the PSC was seen by most police officers as an escape mechanism or an attempt to divert attention from what the average policeman or woman wants.
When asked what the average police personnel wants, one of the officers said, “The one at the top should go. The retired officers are either scapegoats or were used to divert attention from the real issue.
“Most of these officers are seasoned, well grounded in operations, investigations, administration and good in intelligence gathering.
“They are not like some people up there who know nothing except what they know is being close to those in the corridor of power. This is where we are not getting it right in this country. During the days of Chief Obasanjo, everything was done on merit, not the nonsense we see today,” said one of the piqued officers.
However, an Assistant Commissioner of Police, ACP, differs from a Chief Superintendent of Police, CSP, over the claim by the CSP that the directive of the PSC was the right thing to have been done.
“Which right thing has the PSC done? Was it not the PSC that gave evidence in court in 2017 that favoured the Force Entrants’ Appointment Dates? Was it not the PSC that ordered the then IGP to implement the court ruling? Why punish them for a policy they didn’t initiate?”
The ACP disclosed that the PSC would have acted wisely if it had come up with an order that cancelled the issue of force entrants and appointment dates, not punishing them for a policy they did not initiate.
On the issue of falsification of age, the CSP believes that the PSC is merely chasing shadows.
