A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, has cautioned about the potential misuse of state police by certain governors for oppressive purposes.
Speaking in an interview on Channels Television, Falana emphasized the necessity for robust legal safeguards to prevent governors from leveraging police forces to intimidate or suppress political adversaries.
He highlighted the already apparent decentralization of policing in the country, citing the prevalence of private security outfits in residential estates and communities. These security personnel, armed with various weapons, are tasked with safeguarding residents.
Falana stressed the importance of clearly delineating the jurisdiction of state police to avert conflicts and rivalries among security agencies. He advocated for a people-oriented policing approach rather than one centered on government interests.
He concluded by asserting that the efficacy of the nation’s policing system hinges on its adept management.
Falana said, “Unfortunately, our governors have allowed the Nigeria Police Force to become the Federal Government Police Force hence the demand for state police.
“Under Section 216 of the Constitution, the President of the Republic cannot appoint or remove an Inspector General of Police without consulting the Nigeria Police Council.”
“In that 39-member body, 36 of them are chief executives of states. It’s a council where the members should discuss the number of police personnel should be in every state, how the police should be funded and how the police should be managed and administered. But what has happened?”
Falana said though there are other regular security council meetings in the country, the Nigeria Police Council has not been meeting.
He said, “We must go back to the provisions of the Constitution. It’s not unusual in a federation to have federal government police and state police but again, we have to go back to the drawing table and finetune our policies before we have state police. We must assure our people.
“There are governors in Nigeria that will turn state police into an instrument of oppression because even right now, the federal police is turned into an instrument of oppression.
“So, we must agree that in a Federation, every tier of government, every federating unit should be able to enforce its own laws, with its own security apparatus but you must guarantee that there will be no intimidation or oppression of political opponents, either by the federal government police, state police or even local government police.
“Right now, we deceive ourselves, we already have decentralisation of police; every community, every estate all have their own private security arrangement and majority of them are armed.”
Recently, there has been a resurgence in calls for the establishment of state police, spurred by concerns over the increasing incidents of kidnapping, banditry, and various crimes. This advocacy has been echoed by several governors and regional socio-political groups such as Afenifere and Ohanaeze Ndigbo.
In mid-February, President Bola Tinubu and the governors of all 36 states reached a consensus on the implementation of state police as a viable strategy to tackle the escalating security challenges across the nation.
Approximately a month later, 16 governors submitted their reports to the National Economic Council (NEC), expressing their endorsement for the establishment of state police and advocating for the amendment of the 1999 Constitution to facilitate this initiative.
However, the stances of the remaining 20 governors regarding this matter have yet to be disclosed to the public.