Last Wednesday in the Senate, during debate on the rising wave of insecurity in the land, agitations for and against establishment of State Police tore Senators apart across party lines. Taiye Odewale reports.
The issue
Policing in Nigeria listed as item 45 among the 68 items on the exclusive list of the 1999 Constitution as amended, is an exclusive preserve of the federal government, meaning that none of the 36 states of the federation, 774 local government councils or on regional template, any of the six geo- political zones, can set up any outfit of its own called police without moving the item from exclusive to concurrent list through constitution amendment.
This has been the trend in the country since the collapse of the first republic in January, 1966 through the unification decree promulgated by the first military regime under the leadership of late General Aguiyi Ironsi.
Before the collapse of the first republic while the centre of the Nigerian federation, known as the federal government, has its own federal police outfit, each of the regions of the federation then, had its own regional police outfit patterned along the structures of Native Authorities (NA), and was inherited from the colonial masters.
Why call for state police
Though the centralized policing introduced by the military regimes and legalised by the 1979, and 1999 constitutions respectively, was working at the beginning from the late 1960s to 1970s, 1980s up to 1990s, but since the beginning of this 21st century, the centre seems to be no longer holding for such centralized security architecture for a federation of over 250 ethnic groups, about 500 different languages and cultural values.
Specifically, the menace of Boko Haram insurgency, which started in 2009 in the North Eastern part of the country, herdsmen attacks on farmers and communities in the North Central part of the country, and insurgence of armed banditry in the North Western part of the country with attendant colossal loss of lives and property, have made mince meat of centralized policing and by extension, security architecture to the point that as it is presently, the military and in particular, the Nigerian Army that are out in most of the troubled areas attending to issues of internal security which is primarily that of the police as clearly spelt out in section 214 of the 1999 Constitution ( as amended).
Little wonder that during the debate on the spate of insecurity in the land in the Hallowed Chamber of the Senate last week Wednesday, aside pummeling of the Service Chiefs by virtually all the Senators for allegedly running of out of ideas and overstaying their welcome, the called for establishment of state police was the second most vociferous point made.
The debate
Triggering debate in that direction, was the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege (APC Delta Central), who in his contribution after that of the Senate Leader, Yahaya Abdullahi (APC Kebbi North), Minority Leader, Enyinnaya Abaribe (PDP Abia South) and Adamu Abdullahi (APC Nasarawa West), brought in the issue of state police as something that will be counterproductive if allowed.
According to him, “allowing establishment of police outfits at the state level under the control of respective state governors will put the country into complex problem of insecurity than it is presently as the governors will turn the police to their political security outfit to harass, intimidate and kill opponents real and imaginary”.
But leading the pack of Senators, who countered him, was Senator George Thompson Sekibo (PDP Rivers East) that submitted thus: “the realities on ground clearly show that centralized security architecture and in particular, centralized policing, has failed.
“The way out of the mess we find ourselves now as far as the worsening insecurity in the land is concerned, is for us as lawmakers to do the needful by amending the constitution in a way that policing will be removed from the exclusive list to concurrent list.
“Doing this will pave way for states with the wherewithal, to establish their own police outfit for protection of lives and property in their respective localities.
“The best form of security is local one since crime in itself, is local. The time for state police in Nigeria like other federations of the world has come and we must not shy away from it under whatever guise”.
Allaying the fears of Omo-Agege and others on possible abuse of state police by governors if constitutionally allowed, Senator Ibikunle Amosun (APC Ogun Central), posited that when established, state police should not have anything to do with election security but purely grassroots security.
“Nigeria is a federation and unfortunately the only federation with the aberration of unitarised structure and centralized policing. Security gains and benefits to be made from decentralized policing in form of state police, far outweigh whatever fears being entertained by antagonists of the idea”, he said.
Using the Neighbourhood Watch established in Lagos state during the tenure of her husband as governor to corroborate the call for establishment of state police, Senator Oluremi Tinubu (APC Lagos Central ) said the fear against State Police by some Senators and Political leaders, was unfortunate.
“I wonder what is driving such fears, in Lagos state when my husband was in office as executive governor, he set up the Neighbourhood Watch for neighbourhood security which to a very great extent helped the federal police on intelligence gathering and led to drastic reduction of crime in all the neighbourhoods in the State.
“During the time and up till now, there is no report from any resident of the state that operatives of the neighbourhood watch were used against anybody for whatever reason.
“In the same vein, LASTMA was set up by the state government as traffic police without being used by any sitting governor to harass any resident of PDP, APGA, SDP etc, extraction. To me the fear against the establishment of State Police in the face of complex security problems at hand across the six geo-political zones is unfounded and the earlier we stop running away from it, the better , moreso, Nigeria is a federation and not a unitary state”, she argued.
And the voices increased
Other Senators who argued for state police as way out of the worsening security situation in the country in their various submissions during the debate are Solomon Olamilekan Adeola ( APC Lagos West), Olubunmi Adetunmbi (APC Ekiti North), Smart Adeyemi (APC Kogi West), Ibrahim Shekarau (APC Kano Central) , Abba Moro ( PDP Benue South), Istifanus Dung Gyang ( PDP Plateau North), Lola Ashiru (APC Kwara South), Elisha Ishaku Abbo ( PDP Adamawa North) and Senator Onor Sandy Ojang (PDP Cross River Central).
Few antagonists
However Senators like Adamu Aliero ( APC Kebbi Central), Yusuf Abubakar Yusuf ( APC Taraba Central), Danjuma Goje (APC Gombe Central ) and Gabriel Suswam (PDP Benue North East), further kicked against it in their various submissions as well.
Consequently, the Senate in its resolution that day , used the word ‘Community Policing”as the subject matter the Inspector General of Police ( IGP) Mohammad Abubakar , will address when he appears before it in plenary tomorrow , Wednesday , February 5, 2020.