Justice Inyang Ekwo of Court 5 of the Federal High Court in Abuja yesterday ordered that the status quo be maintained in the recent police recruitment until the matter before the court is determined.
In the suit, the Police Service Commission (PSC) had sued the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and the Minister of Police Affairs as first, second and third respondents over the matter.
The PSC sought an interlocutory injunction restraining the defendants, their officers and representatives, including anybody or person acting on their behalf from appointing, recruiting or attempting to appoint or recruit by any means whatsoever any person into any office in the first defendant pending the hearing and determination of the substantive suit.
On October 23, 2019, when the matter came up for hearing, the court urged that all parties should stay within the bounds of the law until the matter is decided.
Lawyer to the three defendants, Dr Alex Izinyon (SAN), had sought that the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) be joined in the suit as the fourth defendant.
The request was granted.
Izinyon argued that the issue that brought the motion was the recruitment, which had passed, saying the NPF had concluded the recruitment of 10,000 constables.
On October 24, 2019, the NPF released the names of successful candidates for this year’s recruitment. A tweet on NPF’s verified twitter handle @PoliceNG reads: “List of successful candidates in the 2019 recruitment exercise into the Nigeria Police Force, 24 October 2019.
“The IGP has vetted and given approval for the release of the final and authenticated list of successful candidates who participated in the ongoing recruitment exercise into the Nigeria Police Force. Below is the list of successful candidates: https://www.npf.gov.ng/information/index.php.”
