Appeal court nullifies constable recruitment, declares Police Act 2020 illegal
The Court of Appeal has declared as unconstitutional and void, the Police Act 2020, enacted in September this year as it affects the constitutional mandate of the Police Service Commission.
It ruled that the provision of the Act was in conflict with paragraph 30 Part 1 of the Third Schedule to the 1999 Constitution “which empowers the commission to appoint persons into offices in the Nigeria Police Force except the Office of the Inspector-General of Police.”
The judgment also nullified the recruitment of 10,000 constables carried out by the police authorities last year.
However, the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, has appealed the ruling which nullified the earlier order of the Federal High Court, Abuja.
The PSC spokesman, Ikechukwu Ani, in a statement on Wednesday, explained that the details of the Appeal Court judgment were contained in the Certified True Copy received on Tuesday.
The statement was titled, ‘Appeal Court declares Police Act 2020 as it affects PSC mandate null and void.’
It said, “Justice Emmanuel Agim, one of the three Justices of the court in his concurrent judgment, ruled that Paragraph 30 of Part 1 of the Third Schedule to the 1999 Constitution has given the power to the commission to appoint persons into offices in the Nigeria Police and did not exclude constables and cadets to Nigeria Police Academy from offices in the Nigeria Police into which the appellant can appoint persons.”
The statement explained that the judge further declared that “no Act of the National Assembly or law can take away or curtail such power.” Punch
