The Police Service Commission clears Senator Isah Misau of any wrongful act leaving the Nigeria Police Force inventing more lies allegedly to obfuscate the allegations of corruption he made against Ibrahim Idris, inspector general of police 

By Anayo Ezugwu

THE fight between the Nigeria Police Force, NPF, and Senator Isah Misau, chairman Senate Committee on Navy, is getting uglier. The Police Service Commission, PSC, has cleared the Senator from the alleged forgery of his retirement from the Nigeria Police. But the NPF is insisting that the embattled Senator still has questions to answer.

The PSC on Wednesday, September 6, declared as genuine the retirement letter issued to the Senator Misau. The special panel set up by the commission found that the letter was issued by the Department of Recruitment and that it followed due process.

Ikechukwu Ani, head, press and public relations of the commission, confirmed that Misau’s name was listed among 111 others who retired from the force in 2010. He stated that the commission found that Misau’s retirement letter was genuine, noting that it was issued following a recommendation from the force headquarters.

“The letter was based on the recommendation from the force headquarters because they normally send recommendations on retiring police officers. So, the recommendation came and based on it, the commission issued a letter with reference number PSC/1034/Vol. 8/244 to Misau. We issued the letter and it followed due process.”

Affirming, Mike Okiro, chairman of the Police Service Commission, who was  on Ray Power FM Political Platform programme, on Thursday, September 7, said the commission acted based on the report submitted to it by the police in 2014. He said Misau was number 16 on the list of 111 retiring police officers whose names were forwarded to the commission by the force headquarters for issuance of retirement letters.

“The letter from the force headquarters got to us on February 28, 2014, and the same day, the files of all the concerned officers were moved to the Department of Recruitment which started processing the retirement letters with the files of the officers because they (files) must be checked to ensure that the retiring officers have no pending issues,” he said.

But Jimoh Moshood, Force Public Relations Officer, speaking on Ray Power FM Political Platform programme, on Thursday, September 7, said the PSC did not follow due process in clearing Senator Misau. He stated that the NPF was not aware of the said report the PSC used in basing its judgement. He wondered while the PSC would clear someone who refused to appear before its investigating panel.

According to him, in as much as Nigeria Police Force is concerned, Senator Misau remains a deserter and must appear before the police investigating panel to clear his name. Apart from forging retirement letter, Moshood said the Senator has other forgery cases to answer. For instance, he said there is discrepancy in the date of birth used by the Senator. “When he joined police his date of birth was 1974, but he used 1973 when he was contesting elections in 2011 and 2015,” he said.

Senator Misau’s problem with the police started when he alleged that policemen paid bribes for special promotion. The senator followed this with another allegation that Ibrahim Idris, Inspector-General of Police, was pocketing N120 billion annually as payment for special security services rendered by the police to corporate organisations and very important persons.

Stung by these accusations, the police declared the ex-DSP a deserter, saying his retirement letter was forged. The special panel headed by Justice Olufunlola Adekeye, retired Supreme Court justice, had last week invited the senator for authentication of his document but he snubbed the summons.

Senator Misau, who is engaged in a running battle with the police, had presented a retirement letter dated March 5, 2014, signed by a retired official, Garos Logam, on behalf of the permanent secretary, PSC. The retirement was to take effect from December 1, 2010.

Nigerians have also expressed concern over the infighting going on between the Senator and the police. Some of them said the crisis would definitely affect the integrity of the Nigeria Police Force if not properly handled. Ebongabasi Ekpe-Juda, security analyst, said: “It is a shame and disgraceful that government officials are acting this way in this country.” He noted that the accusation and counter-accusation showed the level of confusion going on in this government.

“It is unfortunate that we have this kind of rancorous situation with this government. You recalled that the acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, was indicted by another arm of the security agency. This shows the infighting in this government. The police said this man didn’t retire properly, he came on national television tendered his letter of resignation. And the Police Service Commission, the body saddled with the authority of employing, promoting and disciplining police officers said he resigned properly. What is happening with this government?” he asked.

According to him, the ongoing crisis will affect the people’s perception of the police and that is why some people are calling for the inspector general of police to resign. “How can you accuse this Senator now. He didn’t contest this election today neither did he resign from police today. You just wakeup now to say that he didn’t resign properly and the PSC have come to say that he resigned properly. This is very unfortunate and will equally affect the integrity of the police in Nigeria.

“The way out is for the President to discipline them and call them to order. You can’t be in the same government and be fighting yourselves dirty in the eyes of the public. If the PSC has come to say that this man resign properly, what the IG should do if he has a case against him, is to meet the chairman of the PSC with his side of the story,” Ekpe-Juda said.

Sept. 8, 2017 @ 14:10 GMT |