President Muhammadu Buhari is not responsible for promotion in the Nigeria Police Force, the presidency said on Thursday.
Presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, stated this shortly after the Police Service Commission (PSC) promoted 24 Commissioners of Police to the rank of the Assistant Inspectors General of Police (AIG). Among others.
However, the former acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu was declined promotion.
Reacting to the development, President Buhari’s media aide said promotion in the nation’s police structure is determined by the PSC, noting that his principal had no hand in the exercise.
“President Buhari, or any Nigerian President for that matter, is not responsible for promotions in the Police. That is the business of the Police Service Commission, PSC,” Shehu stated.
“In the case of the gentleman in question, who is currently under investigation, common sense dictates that his eligibility will be determined by that outcome. The PSC could have given you the correct position on this if there was an effort to reach them.”
Shehu’s reaction followed some rumours suggesting that President Buhari was pushing for the Magu’s promotion who has been under probe over allegations of misuse of his office.
Some reports had emerged that Magu had been penciled down for promotion from present CP rank to AIG by the PSC despite the alleged adverse recommendations of the Justice Ayo Salami panel that investigated the allegations.
But the PSC in a statement by its Head, Press and Public Relations, Ikechukwu Ani, “declined the promotion of CP Magu pending clearance from the office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice and the Office of the Inspector General of Police.”
The ex-EFCC boss served as acting chairman of the anti-graft agency from 2015 to 2020, and was rejected twice by the Senate.
Magu was later suspended along with several others for allegedly mismanaging funds of the commission, an allegation he repeatedly denied.
He was probed for over three months by a judicial panel of inquiry led by a former President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Ayo Salami.
