Obasanjo Blasts FG On Appointment Of Ex-IGP As Chairman Of PSC, Says It’s Like Appointing ‘Thief To Catch A Thief’

Former President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo, has blasted the Presidency for appointing former Inspectors General of Police to head the Police Service Commission (PSC).

Obasanjo spoke on Thursday 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 independent individuals in the country, both authorised and none authorised.

“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 private security organisations to take up the duties and responsibilities for the protection of authorised and unauthorised Nigerians.

Meanwhile, he called on the president to implement state police to adequately safeguard the lives and properties of Nigerians at the state level.

“People have said that state police will be abused by governors, I won’t say yes or no, but are they not being abused by the central government?

“But I believe we can have guides for state police, particularly for the communities to reduce to the bare minimum that abuse of police by the state government.”

THE WHISTLER had reported the recurring rifts between both parties, especially on issues of recruitment, promotion, and deployment of officers.