Governor Dauda Lawal of Zamfara State says the state will give the necessary support for the establishment of state police, stating that the realities that necessitated the Senate’s recent passing of the constitutional amendment bill are too glaring to ignore.

In a statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the Secretary to the State Government, Comrade Suleiman Tudu, the governor noted that over the years, Nigeria has faced multidimensional security challenges.

He listed these to include separatist violence in the South-East, insurgency in the North-East, communal clashes in the North-Central, cultism and armed robbery in the South-West, militancy and vandalism in the South-South, and the devastating banditry and kidnapping in the North-West.

According to Lawal, “the threats are varied, entrenched, and nationwide. The hard reality is that nowhere is safe in Nigeria today, and no one is spared. Even areas once considered relatively secure are no longer insulated. The menace spreads rapidly and respects no boundaries.

“These growing challenges seem to have outpaced federal response capacity, leaving many communities helplessly exposed and grossly under-policed across the country.”

Noting that the post-debate surrounding the passage of the State Police Bill has been intense, the governor stated that while the concerns over the state governments’ lack of financial and institutional capacity to run the state police, and the fear of political oppression are real, to some extent, “Zamfara is the clearest case for why state police should not be further delayed on that account.

According to him, the current leadership in the state has demonstrated sufficient political will and can serve as a model for what sub-nationals are capable of doing, having undertaken critical security reforms that strengthen institutional capacity and integrity in security management, and has also been bankrolling all security formations with operational vehicles, logistics, and other essential assets.

For his part, Senator Orji Kalu described state police as a “must,” with the Senate having already amended the Constitution relating to the Nigeria Police Act.

Speaking on the matter at his country home in Bende Council over the weekend, Kalu told newsmen that, going by the amendment, the Nigeria Police has been removed and replaced with Federal Police and State Police. He explained that this will be followed by enacting the enabling law that will put in place the Federal Police and State Police.

In the same vein, the Chief Judge of Taraba State, Justice Joel Agya, has commended President Bola Tinubu’s establishment of state police, in view of the rising wave of criminality across the country.

Speaking over the weekend in Wukari at a dinner and fundraising ceremony for the Justice Joel Agya Bar Centre Project, organised by the Wukari Branch of the Nigerian Bar Association, Agya said indigenes would police their localities rather than people who may not be conversant with the local terrain.