By Ken Afor
A former federal lawmaker, Senator Shehu Sani, has given reasons why state police might not work efficiently as intended amid calls for its enactment.
Senator Sani, who represented Kaduna Central between 2015 and 2019, on his X handle, stated that if eventually the bill is passed and signed into law, it would become an apparatus for state governors to harass non-indigenes to rig elections.
Senator Sani further highlighted that the state police will be counterproductive, hence creating conflict between it and the federal police in cases of interest between the state governors and the federal government.
He, therefore, noted that recruits into the security outfit would predominantly be thugs used by the state ruling political parties.
He wrote, “The State police will be used by the Governors to persecute the opposition,to harass ‘non indigenes’, to rig elections and to counter the federal police in case of conflict of interest between the federal government and the state. Most of the state ruling party thugs will be recruited into the state police.”
While debates on the establishment of the outfit have continued to generate the needed attention, members of the House of Representatives passed for the second reading the state police bill on Tuesday.
The bill, sponsored by the Deputy Speaker of the House, Benjamin Kalu, and 14 others, sought to alter some sections of the 1999 constitution to pave the way for states to establish their own policing outfits.
The Deputy Speaker, who presided over Tuesday’s plenary on behalf of the Speaker, Abbas Tajudeen, urged members to reason beyond political motives and consider the safety of Nigerians and Nigeria.
On his part, Mr. Babajimi Benson, a member representing Ikorodu federal constituency in Lagos State, noted that the current numerical strength of the federal police is grossly inadequate for the country’s population of over 200 million people, hence the need for the establishment of state police to address the overwhelming security challenges in the country.
According to Benson, “It is the job of the police to maintain law and order. We have a population of over 200m people but we have a police strength that is less than 400,000. State Police should be created to address the internal security challenges of Nigeria.”
