259 NGOs call for probe of age, service year falsification in Nigeria Police

…Tension in the Force as retired colleagues of erring officers petition Egbetokun, PSC to demand justice
…Cheating officers continue to defy IGP’s order to ‘immediately’ quit service

By Tunde Opalana

Following high rise in cases of police officers and men cutting age and length of service to stay beyond statutory retirement period, a group of 259 Non- Governmental Organisations have petitioned the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun and authority of the Nigerian Police to probe age and years of service falsification in the Force.

The groups expressed worries that some police officers overdue for retirement defied order by the Inspector General of Police to quit the service but continue to doctor their birth dates and service documents.

The groups noted that there have been scores of petitions submitted to the office of the Inspector General of Police and the Police Service Commission by the retired colleagues of the cheating officers, many of who left the Force about five years ago after reaching the statutory age of 60 years or 35 years in service.

According to the group police authorities plan to enforce the rule on mandatory retirement of officers is creating some anxiety in the Force. This will affect officers who are above the statutory 60 years of age and 35 years in service.

In July this year, the Police Service Commission (PSC) ordered the compulsory retirement of an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) for allegedly overstaying in service. The PSC also ordered the compulsorily retired ACP to refund all salaries and entitlements wrongly paid to him during the period he had overstayed in service.

Recently, the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun ordered police formations and commands to extract a letter of retirement from police officers due for retirement, but who have refused to quit service.

The signal from the IGP’s office had described the continued stay in service of such officers as a “disturbing trend” in the Force.

The IGP’s signal had stated, “Cooperation with other govt bodies in compliance with the directive of the honourable chairman, Police Service Commission, the IGP directs you draw the attention of all members of the Force to the emerging and disturbing trend in the Nigeria Police Force wherein officers upon attainment of 35 years in service or 60 years of age refuse to proceed on retirement.

“This is contrary to the provisions of the Public Service Rule (PSR) 020810 i & Ii which provides that the mandatory retirement age for all grades in the service shall be 60 years or 35 years of pensionable service.

No officer shall be allowed to remain in service after attaining the retirement age of 60 years or 35 years of pensionable service, whichever is earlier.

All actions taken by the said officers for the Nigeria Police are null and void as a result of expiration of service duration. Accordingly, you are to immediately extract a letter of voluntary retirement from such officers.”

Findings by the group indicated that there was also the case of an Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG) who was enlisted as a Constable in February 1991.

He was trained at the Police Training School, Ilorin and was appointed an Assistant Superintendent of Police in 1996. In one of his records, he claimed 1/12/1994. But there was no training in the Constable cadre until 1999. He’s currently claiming 1996. He was recently promoted an AIG.

It was gathered that a syndicate operating within the NPF had been assisting the cheating officers to perpetrate the crime.

These, therefore moved a coalition of 259 anti-corruption, civil society and human rights groups, Coalition for Transparency and Economic Reforms (COTER) to call on IGP Egbetokun to institute a comprehensive investigation to look into the records of the cheating officers and recommend necessary sanctions against them.

COTER also urged the IGP to ensure the immediate exit of these cheating officers from the Police Force.

It added that there should be immediate recovery of all the salaries and entitlements already paid these cheating officers during the period they have overstayed in the Police Force.

COTER President, Dr Peter Chima Chukwu and General Secretary, Mallam Auta Ibrahim Koko, stated that the police authorities should also make public the names of the cheating officers to serve as a deterrent to others.

COTER said, “We urge the Inspector General of Police to institute a comprehensive probe of this illegal, untoward and scandalous development in the Nigeria Police Force. We urge them to ensure that all those officers indicted are appropriately sanctioned.

“What they have been alleged to have done as police officers is appalling. So, we call on the police authorities not to spare any one of these cheating officers. Infact, we’re calling on the IGP to immediately sack them from the Force.

“We believe, for the good of the Nigeria Police Force and the sake of posterity, the police authorities will not spare anyone of these cheating officers as a sacred cow.

“We commend your efforts, but we demand that all indicted officers must be appropriately punished in order to deter others from towing such ignoble path in the future. The cheating officers must also be made to refund every Kobo of the salaries and entitlements they have illegally collected from the Force.”