Necessitated by the heightened insecurity in the country, former President Goodluck Jonathan has thrown his weight behind the call for the establishment of state police, saying it is non-negotiable. Mr Jonathan made his position clear at the “National Dialogue on the Establishment of State Police” organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Constitution Review held yesterday in Abuja. The dialogue was titled, “Pathways to Peace: Reimagining Policing in Nigeria.”
The former Nigerian leader, who was also a former Governor of Bayelsa state insisted that state policing was not a thing to be debated upon rather, we shall be fine-tuning ways to avoid being manipulated by the authorities superintending over them.
He said, “The issue today is very critical. One thing is that we don’t need to debate whether we should have state police or not. I think that matter has been concluded. The issue is the operations of the police”.
Mr Jonathan, while recalling his experience as governor highlighted some of the actions he had to took to ensure the prevention of abuse.
The Bayelsa born politician insisted that that Nigeria could not afford to toy with the idea of state police any longer as insecurity has got to every village, citing that the 2014 National Conference organised by his administration supported the creation of state police.
“We must not waste our time debating whether we should have state police or not, we should concentrate on how to check abuses by state political actors.
“The key area that we need to debate is how we will run the state police to secure the security architecture of the country so that it is most effective and devoid of any political influence,” Mr Jonathan added.
Another key speaker at the event was a former Head of State, Gen, Abdulsalami Abubakar (rtd), who advocated for transparency in the operation of state police.
He warned that politicians must avoid asserting undue influence over the operations of the state police if we should make headway as a country.
He said, “If we decide to have them. It is necessary for politicians as much as possible to avoid exerting influence on the ways the police are going to operate if at all we agree to have the police”.
In his remark, President Bola Tinubu said that state policing has the potentials to revolutionise law enforcement in Nigeria and cater for different needs entirely.
Tinubu was represented by his Vice president, Kashim Shettima, who called on the leaders to ensure that the deliberations continue beyond the hall until it sees the light of the day.
According to him, “The concept of state policing is not merely a policy for the proposal but a potential milestone of revolution of our law enforcement framework. It offers the possibility of catering to the diverse needs of our communities.
“It is essential that this forum is not the end, but the beginning of an ongoing conversation on the issue of police and security sector reform in our country.
“The theme of today’s event is a pivotal aspect of our national discourse. It reflects a collective recognition of the need for a more localised, responsive and effective law enforcement framework,” Mr Tinubu said.
In his contribution, the Ooni of Ife, Enitan Ogunwusi, called for action as he registered to the audience the discontent of his subjects over general insecurity in his domain.
Ooni said, “We have not seen anybody that has a contrary opinion to this. So technically, the people have spoken, the people’s house. So I would commend you. But please swing into action. it is about time. Do something that would be impactful to people. It is very important.
“Whatever takes home that you would have today, we have the entire National Assembly here. Please we are the ones feeling the heat from our people. We are traditional rulers. Our palaces are not locked. No traditional ruler in this country would dare lock his palace. It’s not possible,” he said.
Although t he monarch made some observation over the lopsidedness in the allocation of police, stating that most VIPs in Abuja have police attached to them.
“But you have lots of police securing the permanent secretary, so many police in Abuja and Lagos. You only come to us when you want to go for election. That is when you come to see us. I mean our political leaders. But we are there, no problem. But enough of talking. let’s stop talking and implement this,” Mr Ogunwusi added.
However, in a twist, after all the personalities Okayed the move, the inspector General of the Police, IGP, Egbetokun Kayode, has a different view.
The IGP was represented by Assistant Inspector General of Police, AIGp, Ben Okoro who suggested that instead, called for merger of the Nigerian police with the Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC to ensure effective policing.
Personalities who delivered speeches at the event were Senate President Godswill Akpabio, Speaker of the House of Representatives Abbas Tajudeen, Deputy Speaker of the House Ben Kalu, Chief of Defence Staff Christopher Musa, who was represented by Kunle Ariyibi, a major general, and the Minister of Police Affairs, Ibrahim Gaidam.
Other personalities at the event were the Governor of Kwara State and Chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, AbdulRahaman AbdulRasak, and the Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar.
State Police Bill
Meanwhile, the state police bill that is currently before the National Assembly seeks the removal of police from the exclusive legislative list to the concurrent list. The exclusive list are items that only the federal government can act upon while the concurrent list contains issues that both the federal government and state governments can act on.
In the 9th assembly, the state police bill was thrown out by the lawmakers, citing tendency of abuse by the state governors as the reason.
However, as insecurity across the country has escalated, there seems to be a favourable disposition to the bill by the current assembly to save the country from total collapse.
