Worsening security situation in Nigeria: It’s NO to state police — Borno Gov. Zulum

“Honestly speaking, I can never support decentralization of the police force because of the implications”

“Nigeria is not mature for state police. Some state governors can use it to wipe away other tribes apart from their tribes”

Notwithstanding the amendment being proposed by the National Assembly to the 1999 Constitution, a governor in the Northern part of the country has again attacked Southern governors and PDP governors’ position on state police, saying “Nigeria is not mature enough for it.”

Prof. Babagana Zulum, the Governor of Borno State, the epicenter of Boko Haram jihadists and other terrorists’ bloody attacks, said he is not in support of state police because Nigeria is not mature enough for it yet.

“Honestly speaking, I can never support decentralization of the police force because of the implications.

“Nigeria is not mature for state police. Some state governors can use it to wipe away other tribes apart from their tribes.

“We have to be very careful because If half of the power given to the Nigeria Army, police and others are given to state police, there will be a bigger problem in Nigeria,” he said.

Zulum spoke while delivering a lecture entitled, “Ungoverned Space and Insecurity in the Sahel Region”, at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, Plateau State.

According to the governor, who has survived several attempts on his life by the terrorists, there will be a lot of problems if half of the powers given to the Nigerian Police and Army are given to states.

Persecondnews recalls that governors elected on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Southern governors had demanded state police and the restructuring of the Nigerian federation in the wake of intractable and parlous security situation across the country.

The 17 Southern governors had met in Asaba, Delta State in August and released a communique including state police, power shift in 2023 polls, anti-open grazing, among others.

The PDP governors from the North and South had met at the International Institute For Tropical Agriculture, Ibadan, Oyo State, and declared support for a ban on open grazing.

In a six-point communique issued after its meeting, the PDPGF, decried the worsening security situation in the country as well as the poor state of the economy.

The Chairman of the PDPGF and Sokoto Governor Aminu Tambuwual, a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, signed and read the communique.

It reads in part: “The meeting called on Mr. President as the Chief Executive Officer of Nigeria and Commander in Chief of Nigerian Armed Forces to immediately send an Executive Bill to the National Assembly to amend the Nigerian Constitution to devolve more powers to the states with respect to security arrangements culminating in some form of state policing and the general security architecture.

“In the interim, Mr. President should summon an immediate meeting of the Nigerian Police Council which comprises Mr. President and all state governors and other critical stakeholders to evolve and implement strategies to combat the present threats to our union, especially with respect to policing.”