The ongoing promotion being carried out by the Police Service Commission (PSC) for officers of Nigerian Police Force has been described as fraudulent and lacking in merit by some senior police officers.
The situation is said to be giving the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Solomon Arase, the chairman of the PSC and the Ministry of Police Affairs cause for concern, as the final report has allegedly been submitted to the PSC for approval.
There are also concerns that a revolt is imminent in the ranks if the ongoing Cadet ASP Course 20/2000 shortlisted for promotion to the rank of Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP) is carried out.
This may be connected to the fact that the ASP Induction Course 2000 participants, who are supposed to be their seniors, have been maneuvred out, sources said.
Police authorities have been called upon to intervene in the anomaly said to have been done without recourse to the provisions of the Police Act and Regulations.
Daily Independent gathered that the two crops of the officers have been contending over seniority since 2009 and 2010, prompting the authorities to institute a committee to investigate who should be senior.
The committee came up with a report that rightly put the ASP Induction Participants as senior to the Cadet ASP, resulting to the promotion of the ASP induction Course (SPS wef 01/01/2008) two months ahead while the Cadet ASP Course participants were promoted SPS (wef 01/03/2008).
The manipulation, according to findings, was once stopped by former IGP, Suleiman Abba, by changing the date of the ASP Induction course 2000 to 1/8/2008 and that of Cadet ASP 20/2000 to 1/5/2008 when the ASP Cadets Course 20/2000 was illegally and ambiguously placed ahead of the ASP Induction Course, a contradiction of a Force Headquarters directive.
This manipulation was the handiwork of some senior officers at the Force Headquarters in Abuja, insiders revealed, which negates due process.
A senior officer who spoke on condition of anonymity because he had no authorisation to speak to the press said, “It is a monumental fraud of the staff list. ASP Induction Course 2000 participants had successfully completed their programmes on June 30, 2000 before the ASP Cadets commenced theirs later in November 2000. Is the Police Service Commission contradicting itself by reverting the outcome of the investigative panel it set up to look into the seniority conundrum, which came up with the report that ASP Induction Course 2000 participants are senior?”
