Governor of Oyo State Seyi Makinde has criticised 16 governors for sending a report on the issue to the National Economic Council (NEC) when calls for state police become louder.
The NEC announced on Thursday that it has received memoranda from sixteen governors endorsing the creation of state police as a means of addressing the numerous security issues confronting the country.
Twenty additional governors still needed to send in their reports so the NEC could take action on them, even if the names of the governors were withheld.
Barely a day after the announcement, Governor Makinde who appeared as a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today described the governors’ actions as a waste of time.
“I did not submit any memorandum on state police but my position is very clear about state police. I see it, quite frankly, as a waste of our time,” he said on Friday.
“I did not submit not because of arrogance but because I don’t think the approach will quickly get us to where we want to go. You are asking the states to submit memoranda on how state police will work.”
They Know What To Do
Makinde said the issue of the state police can best be handled by the National Assembly and not the National Economic Council or the National Security Adviser.
He argued that the issue must pass through the parliament since it is a constitutional matter before being replicated at the state houses of assembly.
“The National Assembly, they know what to do. They have people that can quickly do this work. It is not the National Security Adviser or the National Economic Council that will deal with the issue of state police.
“It is a constitutional thing and should go to the National Assembly and then at the state level, we get our state houses of assembly to pass this law,” the governor said.
Quest For State Police
The clamour for state police has been an age-long issue in Nigeria. But the worsening state of security in the country has heightened such calls.
Governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had on February 12 restated their position on state policing, as the solution to the country’s worsening security situation, lamenting that Nigeria is “almost on the road to Venezuela”.
Also, regional socio-political groups such as Afenifere, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Middle Belt Forum, and the Northern Elders’ Forum, have repeatedly called for state police as a solution to the myriad of increasing security challenges confronting the nation.
Already, states in the South-West geopolitical zone have formed the Amotekun while their counterparts in the South-East also created a security outfit Ebube Agu. The Benue Guards has also been operational in Benue State in the North Central while states like Katsina, Zamfara, and other bandit-prone sub-nationals have also come up with similar state-established outfits.
However, these outfits have not been as effective as anticipated as they do not have the backing of the Federal Government. States continue to demand that Amotekun, Ebube Agu, and others be granted license to bear assault rifles like AK-47s to confront lethal gun-toting marauders.