Obasanjo has frowned at the appointment of the former IG as PSC chairman.
Glamtush reports that former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Thursday in Abuja frowned at the appointment of former Inspectors-General of Police as chairmen of the Police Service Commission (PSC).
This online newspaper gathered that President Muhammadu Buhari appointed former Inspector-General of Police, Musiliu Smith as chairman of the PSC in 2018. He resigned in 2022 and retired Justice Clara Ogunbiyi took over as acting chairman.
President Buhari had last month appointed another retired Inspector-General of Police, Mr Solomon Arase as substantive chairman of the PSC.
Reacting, Obasanjo said, “when you make a retired police officer the head of the Police Service Commission, it is like asking a thief to catch a thief.’’
He said civilians should be appointed as chairmen and retired police officers appointed as members of the PSC to ensure effective and efficient service delivery.
He noted that the author believed that Nigeria, a federation, should not have unitary police establishment as people had argued that state police would be abused by governors.
“I won’t say yes or no, but can they not be abused by the Federal Government?
“For a federation, it is contrary to the ideal of the country because the unitary policing system is not close enough to the community where the police are supposed to be.
“The author argued whether the name should truly be the Nigeria Police Force or a Police Service. I believe the police should be a Police Service not a Police Force,” Obasanjo added.
