A fresh dispute over promotions within the Nigeria Police Force is causing growing tension, administrative confusion, and arguments over rank among officers in several state commands.
Officers in states such as Oyo, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, and Cross River report that their names were omitted from a recent promotion exercise.
They explained that state commands had submitted their details as requested, but when the final list came out, many eligible personnel were missing.
Affected officers initially expected a correction list, but months have passed without any changes.
This issue has created severe seniority problems where officers are now junior in rank to colleagues from the same recruitment batch or even officers who joined the force after them.
In one case, a dispute broke out between two officers from different commands when an officer promoted to Corporal demanded a salute from a colleague who remained a Constable due to the list omission, despite having a senior force number.
The current controversy follows separate complaints from officers recruited in 1991, who say they have been stuck at the rank of Assistant Superintendent of Police for decades despite completing all required evaluations.
Affected personnel express deep concern over how these prolonged delays impact their career progression, dignity, and retirement benefits.
The Nigeria Police Force and the Police Service Commission have not publicly commented on the complaints, leaving it unclear whether the omissions were caused by administrative errors or processing delays.