Mr Gumel said the recall allowed the police to ascertain the exact number of their personnel seconded to the commission.
The police have said they recalled their officers posted to the Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission (PCACC) because they were conducting a staff audit.
The Commissioner of Police in the state, Usaini Gumel, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kano on Friday that the recall was a political witch-hunt.
Mr Gumel said the recall allowed the police to ascertain the number of personnel seconded to the commission.
He said the move was also meant to understand the reporting line and nature of duties assigned to each police officer since their deployment to the commission in 2015.
“The exercise was simply a response to a series of reports received through the Command’s Complaint Response Unit (CRU).
“They portrayed policemen attached to the commission as being high-handed and deviating from the expected role of providing static guard and other duties at the commission.
“For clarity, members of the public are to note that the object of the ongoing staff audit is basically to address the litany of complaints as reported by sections of the media,” he said.
He explained that the action became imperative to correct the anomalies in the commission’s operations as police officers were being used to effect arrest and investigation of cases.
This, he said, was a deviation from the officers’ assigned initial mandate and which must be corrected.
“In summary, the step is towards ensuring a better and more effective service delivery by the policemen devoid of abuse of process in the people’s interest.
“It will be recalled that similar exercises were conducted in the past from the inception of the commission in 2015, and the men were returned to their duty posts at the conclusion of the exercises,” he said.
He said the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) had approved the immediate return of a number of police officers providing guard at the commission who had gone through the audit process.
“Should the commission require more policemen for other duties than what has been expressly approved by the IGP, it should apply to the IGP for approval and deployment,” he said. (NAN).
