THE trumpet of insecurity is blowing louder by the day, literally speaking. It is blowing loud enough for the deaf to hear and the accompanying air thick enough for the blind to touch. The waves are sweeping unrelentingly through the land, mostly through the Northern states. It was such that the Speaker, House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas came back from end-of year/New Year Recess in January last year seething with rage, determined to give the setting up of state police unhindered and priority legislative attention. That was as far back as January, 2024. Bubbling with excitement I wrote:
“It has been reported that top on the legislative thinking of the House of Representatives when it reconvenes on January 30 is the issue of security and the concomitant imperative of the establishment of state police. We should all applaud and support them. In the face of seeming intractable insecurity bedevilling the country, that certainly is the right step and it raises a great deal of hope. It would have been a height of insensitivity to watch on, believing that the present security architecture is all there to protect Nigerians from terrorists, bandits, kidnappers and what have you. It is said that you cannot continue to do the same thing, using the same method and expect a different result.
“It has been the same shibboleth, the same beaten track, the same old hat since Yusuf Gobir Committee report which recommended one central policing system for the whole country in 1967. We have heard it repeatedly said and as much as possible, done—that all that is needed is increased funding, training and raising the numerical strength of the police under the current dispensation. But all that has not given Nigerians the desired protection.”
As I have said on these pages a few times by way of a reminder, “The Gobir Committee was set up by General Aqui-Ironsi but he did not live to see the report and implement it. The recommendations were passed to General Gowon, his successor who gave them effect in August 1967. Regional police formations were consequently abolished, swallowed by the Federally-run Nigeria Police. Understandably, generals are raised under one command system. But why should the system subsist and tie the hands of states under a democratic order waving the federalism emblem going to 25 years come May?”
I was rounding off this column on Wednesday when my attention was drawn to President Bola Tinubu’s statement undoubtedly made in response to the nation’s recent experiences. The statement is commendably action-packed. It is no longer an indication of intent and all heat, but no motion. He had said in June this year that the setting up of “state police is no longer an option but an imperative”. Now, he is walking his talk. He has called on the National Assembly to begin reviewing our laws to allow states that require state police to establish them. That is how it should be.
Two months earlier, March 14, 2024, there was a clear hope-filled development on the subject as it had become clear that the Federal and State governments had reached an agreement of minds that the establishment of state police was the way to go in order to tackle the hydra-headed insecurity challenges in the land. Picking the vibes, most people must have found it enheartening that both tiers of government had come to the same page, hearkening to the outcry across the landfor the establishment of state police. But then time was of the essence. It is must be given bite immediately. It is quite a pity that it has taken such a long time to see that the solution to the insecurity bedevilling our land is the establishment of state police.
Something so simple to see and so commonsensical to contemplate and perceive! Because of the lackadaisical attitude of certain leaders criminals were let loose on the country. Citizens have been exposed to mindless attacks and destruction of properties. It is already 11 years since 276 Chibok school girls in Borno were kidnapped from their dormitories; no fewer than 96 of them remain in captivity till date! On February 19, 2018, terrorists broke into another girls’ school, Government Girls’ Science and Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe State, running away with 110 girls. Five of them died that same day. Boko Haram released 104, except Leah Sharibu who refused to deny Christ and change her faith.
Not long after, a new wave of kidnapping returned to Borno State when about 400 persons were kidnapped. It was followed by the abduction of 287 school children again in one go in Kaduna State. And to muddle the situation, on Tuesday, 60 more persons were kidnapped in the already menaced axis of Kajuru, bringing to more than 300 kidnapped in the state within a week. Sokoto lost 15 persons in the earlier wave in which two persons were killed.
The heightened state of insecurity got to a choking frustration at a stage that the then Governor of Zamfara State, who doubled as the national chairman of Governors’ Forum, Mr. Abdullaziz Yari, threw up his hands in resignation. He washed off his hands being decorated as the chief security officer of his state. He saw his position, not having operational control over the police in his state, as a joke.
After the Northern Establishment raised the nation’s hope a notch higher, throwing their full weight behind the establishment of state police, President Tinubu cemented the hope: It is a done-deed. He said creation of “state police is no longer optional but a national imperative.” The Northern Establishment, comprising state governors and traditional rulers, met in May and unanimously endorsed the urgent need for the creation of state police in the country.
Given the renewed waves of kidnapping of school children, first in Kebbi State where 25 students were victims, and vice-principal killed; Niger State where 303 students of St, Mary’s Private Catholic School were abducted and an attack in Kwara during thanksgiving worship and 38 worshippers were seized and taken away, Bola Tinubu’s response on Wednesday could not have been timely. The country was headed toward state failure, chaos and collapse.
Before President Tinubu’s Wednesday statement, I was mulling the idea of an urgent and drastic step that could be taken to halt the embarrassing and frightening mess. Given the burning heat and indignation with which the Speaker, Tajudeen Abbas,came back from his holiday with his colleagues one would have thought the Legislature would act promptly, put everything else on hold, then go the extra mile and evoke the Doctrine of Necessity because of its emergency nature; and the President, would issue Executive Orders to put presidential stamp on the decision of the Legislature, and if still necessary, take steps to regularise it later, dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s! As elders in the South-west would say: Eni t’o kan l’omo! That is, what does not touch you is hardly yours! Until Tinubu’s response declaring a state of emergency on security, the legislative fuss bogged by foot dragging was going to amount towhat William Shakespeare Macbeth might want to describe as “a tale… full of sound and fury, signifying nothing”! Otherwise, where are we today? Within a week, the bandits sent cold shivers down our spine with a renewed wave of kidnapping from schools and a raid in Eruku town, Kwara State.They were attacked during a thanksgiving worship in their church.
Other steps President Tinubu announced in his statement included urgent increase in the numerical strength of the Army and the police. The police are directed to recruit an additional 20, 000 officers. The Department of State Services are directed to send trained forest guards to flush out terrorists and bandits living in the forests and using them as attack launching bases. Officers being withdrawn from VIP guard duties are to undergo crash training to debrief them so they can operate efficiently in police duties when they are deployed to their core duties as policemen and deployed to security challenged areas of the country. Tinubu said he had approved upgrade of police training facilities nationwide and authorised the use of various National Youth Service Corps camps as training depots.
He went on: “States should rethink establishing boarding schools in remote areas without adequate security. Mosques and churches should constantly seek police and other security protection when they gather for prayers, especially in vulnerable areas.”
The issue of the security challenges has been of grave concern to state governments for quite a while and they have been pressing for the laws to be amended to permit them police operational control in their states through the establishment of state police. They always speak with one voice to drive home their points from the time Babatunde Fashola was chairman of the Governors’ Forum; also when Abdulaziz Yayi was leader of the Forum. Only a few days ago South-West Governors Forum pressed for the establishment of state police. On Wednesday, the Southern Governors Forum which met in Ogun State did the same.
Former leaders have added their voices, making convincing cases for the establishment of the state police. Former President Ibrahim Babangida, for example, was unequivocal on the imperative of state police in the land. He went as far as allaying fears on the possible misuse of the institution by governors. He said the fear is “unfounded” and “exaggerated.” It is one subject from which he did not shy away. In his words: “Added to this desire,” referring to the issue of restructuring, “is the need to commence the process of having state police across the states of the Federation… The initial fears of state governors misusing the officers and men of the state police have become increasingly eliminated with renewed vigour in citizens’ participation in and confidence to interrogate power. We cannot be detained by those fears and allow civilisation to leave us behind. We must as a people with one destiny and common agenda take decisions for the sake of posterity in our shared commitment to launch our country on the path of development and growth. Policing has become sophisticated that we cannot continue to operate our old methods and expect different results.”
Former Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo even while in office had spoken in the same vein as Babangida: “Securing Nigeria’s over 923, 768 square kilometres and its 180 million people requires a continual re-engineering of our security architecture and strategies. We cannot realistically police a country of the size of Nigeria centrally from Abuja. State and other community policing methods are the way to go.”
Former Governor, now Senator Henry Dickson and ex-Governor Jonah Jang who shared their experiences while in office came to the same conclusion as Professor Osinbajo. They argued that the prevailing security situation and the need for an effective challenge had made the establishment of state police mandatory. Dickson’s conviction was anchored on the fact that the personnel would be drawn from the locality that makes up the state. Such personnel would be able to access valuable information required to track criminals. It is a position also shared by Major-General David Jemibewon, although he did not expressly press for state police. His thoughts are contained in his book, The Nigeria Police in Transition: Issues, Problems and Prospects.
TheAssociation of State Assembly Speakers also called for the establishment of state police.
As of February 2018, Nigeria was host to the sixth largest IDP population in the world. That year, Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states had the largest number of IDPs. Together with its outskirts, Maiduguri saw its population almost doubled from one million to nearly two million. From incessant mayhem, Benue as of 2018, had 160, 000 displaced persons.
The idea of different communities and zones establishing their own police preceded the coming of Nigeria Police established in 1930. The Egba United Government had muted the idea of setting up its own police in 1900 and members of the hunters’ society constituted itself into a force. By 1903, the thought crystallised and was put forward by the Alake and the Order-in-Council of Egba United Government to Governor MacGregor in Lagos but the nod to go ahead came in 1905. Ibadan followed suit in 1906 and Oyo in 1907. The North also decided to have its own policing system between 1900 and 1906. It resented what it called the centralising tendences in Lagos.
This is why the agitation for state police is loudest in the South West. It was already used to a three-tier policing system—native Authority, Regional and Nigeria Police fondly called OlopaEko, smart and well attired. The East did not have local or regional police in the First Republic. Tinubu deserves praise and support for holding the bull by the horns and courageously setting the ball rolling to change the narrative of the nation’s security challenges. The primary purpose of a government is security of the citizens, the protection of lives and property. Tinubu has given the green light; the ball is now in the National Assembly’s court!
