Nigeria’s Police Service Commission (PSC) has debunked the insinuations that the recent reinstatement of a former commissioner of police, Zakari Biu, was as a result of a directive from President Muhammadu Buhari.
The commission’s spokesman, Ikechukwu Ani told Premium Times that Biu’s recall was as a result of a review by the PSC, the circumstances that led to the former commissioner’s dismissal.
Ani said: “It has nothing to do with the president, the president was not even aware of the decision of the commission. He wrote an appeal to the police service commission which was forwarded to the Inspector General of Police for comments and based on recommendations by the IGP; looking at the circumstances surrounding his dismissal, the commission adopted the recommendation and reinstated him.”
Biu was dismissed over his alleged complicity in the escape of a Boko Haram leader, Kabiru Sokoto in the year 2012, after Sokoto was accused of masterminding the Christmas day bombing at St Theresa Catholic Church in Madalla, Niger state in which 44 worshipers died and 70 others sustained injuries.
Sokoto has since been sentenced to life imprisonment after he was caught for the second time and prosecuted in court.
Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has issued an apology to Biu, for faulting his reinstatement into the police during a live television programme on the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA).
The PDP national publicity secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, in a statement yesterday, said the party mentioned the issue of Zakari Biu’s reinstatement in passing, while discussing the sensitivity and feelings of Nigerians on the war against insurgency on the programme.
The statement reads: “The comment is highly regretted, especially as we are now very much aware that Mr. Zaraki Biu’s exoneration and reinstatement were done in line with extant laws of the country, and is beyond any irregularity.”
Biu was declared not guilty by the PSC over the weekend. The decision to reinstate him was taken during the commission’s 13th plenary meeting held in Abuja.
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