Alleges lack of supervision by relevant officers
By Kingsley Nwezeh
The Police Service Commission (PSC) yesterday vowed to impose stiffer sanctions against erring personnel of the Federal Special Anti-robbery Squads (FSARS) and other officers in police units under the office of the Inspector-General of Police.
It blamed lack of supervision of SARS by those saddled with the responsibility for the excesses of the police units.
The Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Adamu, had weekend announced a ban on some of the activities of the notorious FSARS following their involvement in extra-judicial executions, extortion and general human rights abuse.
Force Spokesman and Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Frank Mba, said Tuesday that Force Headquarters had no plan of scrapping SARS but was focused on reforming the police units.
But the PSC, in a statement issued yesterday in Abuja, said it would henceforth sanction officers, who operate outside approved laws guiding their units. “The Police Service Commission has followed the recent public outcry on the brazen abuse of office by personnel of both the federal and state armed robbery squads and other special units attached to the office of the Inspector General of Police and the seeming lack or absence of supervision by relevant supervisory authorities.
“The commission has also noted recent efforts by the Inspector General of Police and other government agencies to stem this ugly trend and wishes to warn that henceforth it will sanction any officer, whether of the federal, state or unit of the IG, including other departments of the police in the country who operates outside approved laws and regulations guiding their present engagements”, it said.
The statement signed by the Spokesman of the Commission, Mr Ikechukwu Ani, said the “commission will henceforth closely monitor the activities of these officers and will not hesitate to punish deviants who may want to continue in their old habits. “The commission will not allow these few outlaws to tarnish the image of the Nigeria Police Force”.
The commission said it retained the constitutional mandate to discipline, dismiss and exercise disciplinary control over officers in the Nigeria Police Force except the Inspector-General of Police and maintained that “this mandate, it will discharge without fear or favour”.
The PSC called on Nigerians to take advantage of the commission’s communication platforms to send complaints on any police officer found to be compromising on his/her rule of engagement.
