The Court of Appeal in Abuja has declared the recruitment of 10,000 constables by the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, in 2019 as null and void.
A three-man panel of the Court of Appeal led by Justice Olabisi Ige unanimously held the IGP lacked the power to recruit constables for the Police Force.
The court held that the power to carry out the recruitment was exclusively that of the Police Service Commission (PSC).
The judgement upturned the December 2, 2019 verdict of the Federal High Court in Abuja which had validated the power of the IGP to proceed with the recruitment of 10,000 constables embarked upon in 2019.
The PSC, in a superiority battle with the IGP, in September 2019, instituted the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1124/2019, in its bid to gain the exclusive right to conduct the recruitment process which the NPF and the IGP, had as of that time, almost concluded.
The commission asked the Federal High Court judge, Justice Inyang Ekwo, to nullify the process already commenced by the NPF and the IGP.
It urged the court to declare it as the body with the exclusive powers to carry out the recruitment process.
But the judge in his judgement delivered on December 2, 2019, dismissed PSC’s case which he adjudged to be lacking in merit.
Delivering the lead judgement of the Court of Appeal on Wednesday, Justice Ige, upheld the PSC’s case by resolving all the issues raised in favour of the appellant.
The court held the police regulation and or provisions of the Police Act which purportedly vested the IGP the power of recruiting constables “is null and void being in conflict with the constitutional powers vested in the Police Service Commission”.
It therefore declared the recruitment carried out by the IGP as “null and void”.
