Former President of Nigeria, General Olusegun Obasanjo (Rtd), has blasted the Presidency for appointing former Inspectors General of Police to head the Police Service Commission (PSC).
Obasanjo spoke today while delivering his remarks during the public presentation of the book, ‘Policing The Nigeria Police’ written by the First Chairperson of the PSC, Simon Okeke, in Abuja.
The former president, who was the chairperson of the occasion, said only someone with full civilian background should be appointed to head the PSC and not a retired IGP, adding that it would amount to “asking a thief to catch a thief “
Speaking on the book, he noted that it did not only chronicle the experiences of Okeke while heading the commission but highlighted the challenges as well as the root causes of the rift between the authorities of the Nigerian Police and the PSC.
According to him, the current issues of the PSC, which have resulted in the recurring reluctance of past and present Inspectors general of police not to accept the oversight role of the commission are rooted in the appointment of former police personnel to head the commission.
“The police must be policed by a strong civilian peoples’ community, not police being policed by the police. If that is addressed, I believe we will get better police than we have today.
“This is because there are jealousies and biases within the police, and therefore when you make a retired policeman the head of the commission it is like asking a thief to catch a thief. Those jealousies and biases will come to the fore,” Obasanjo said.
He added that the mandate of the PSC is well spelt out in the Police Act of 2001 and the same Act described the functions of the IGP.
“From the book, and of course as president, I cannot say I do not know some of these Acts. The IGPs tend to want to take more than their mandate allows them to take. The headship of the commission, I believe must be a civilian, not a retired police officer. A retired Police officer should be a member of the commission, not the head,” he noted.
The former president, however, noted that the PSC is saddled with enormous powers and oversight over the Nigeria Police, and there was need to address issues affecting it.
Obasanjo also spoke on Nigeria’s federal structure, saying, “I believe Nigeria by our structure of federalism should not have one and unitary police establishment. It is contrary to the idea of federalism”.
He also rejected the description of the Police as a Force, saying, “I believe the police should be a Police Service and not a Police Force.”
Obasanjo further recommended the training and retraining of police professionals while condemning the use of officers to protect private individuals in the country.
“This has led to out of 380,000 officers, 180,000 are on private duties carrying out duties corruptively,” he said.
He further recommended the licensing of industrial security organisations to take up the duties and responsibilities for the protection of private Nigerians.
