But the Indigenous People of Biafra blamed the lack of interest of youths from the South-East in the police recruitment on alleged marginalisation.
IPOB spokesman, Emma Powerful, in an interview with one of our correspondents, said, “The police authorities should stop playing to the gallery and public sentiments. They always lie to the public on issues concerning the South-East. They already know that the reason for the low enrolment of our people in the police force is due to their deliberate marginalisation of our people who apply.
“Every year the Nigeria Police announces their recruitment, they will deliberately pick a few people from the South-East while picking large numbers from the North.
“For instance, if there are about 500 vacancies to fill in the force, they will pick 400 from the North, 80 from the South-West and 20 from the South-East. This will only discourage the youths from further applying.”
However, the PSC denied IPOB’s allegations, noting that the police authorities had never been discriminatory towards the Igbo or any other ethnic group.
The spokesperson for the PSC, Ikechukwu Ani, said: “There’s no marginalisation of Igbos in the police. The PSC and the NPF have always encouraged Igbo youths to join the Nigeria Police Force. In fact, the PSC Chairman, Solomon Arase, recently urged leaders in the South-East to encourage Igbo youths to join the police.
“And we’re happy that the state governors in the South-East are now making moves to encourage young Igbo to join the police. Since the PSC chairman’s comments, we’ve seen official circulars where state commissioners for Information are encouraging youths in the South-East to join the police. The police do not discriminate against anyone. The Igbo are Nigerians just like every other Nigerian, hence, they’re always welcome to join the police.”
