By Taiwo Adisa
Last Monday, the House of Representatives organised a policy dialogue with the theme “Pathways to Peace: Reimagining Policing in Nigeria.”” It was a public conversation in continuation of what has become a national debate on the propriety of State Police at this time. Before that conversation was held, the House had passed a constitution amendment bill seeking the establishment of state police through the Second Reading, while the executive arm of government had held an emergency meeting where an agreement was struck with the governors on the need for State Police.
So, the April 22 dialogue was furthering the earlier steps taken on the state police question, and the programme was well attended. President Bola Tinubu was represented by Vice President Kashim Shettima, while his predecessors in office, President Goodluck Jonathan, and former Head of State, General Abdusalami Abubakar were equally in attendance. The leadership of the House of Representatives was on hand to receive their guests, while the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbatokun, was represented by Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Ben Okolo.
Going by the tone of the theme of that event, the House of Representatives was largely scouting for further reinforcements of its conviction that the State Police is an idea whose time has come. The Deputy Speaker, the Speaker, President Jonathan, and General Abdusalami as well as traditional rulers all spoke in one accord-that the nation should forge ahead with the idea of state police. But the representative of the Inspector-General, AIG Ben Okolo dropped a bombshell which instantly fouled the air. Okolo, who was later quoted in some media outlets as stating that he spoke his opinion on the matter, had said, purportedly on behalf of the IGP: “On the issue of state police, it is the submission of the leadership of the Nigeria Police Force that the country has yet to mature and ready for the establishment of state-controlled police.
“There is the potential for abuse of power by the state political leadership. State governors could use the police forces under their control for political or personal gain and compromise human rights and security.”
He further called for a merger of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps(NSCDC) and the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) to form a part of the Nigeria Police. Much as the call for the merger of NSCDC and the FRSC with the police is not a new occurrence, especially from the Police Force, the excuses given to obstruct the establishment of State Police remain untenable.
It is not true that the Nigeria nation is not ripe for State Police and that the main excuse for that would be the likelihood of abuse by the state governors. This argument is lame because even the federal police were open to being abused by political forces. I recall that the former governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike had cause to complain aloud about the incessant redeployment of Commissioners of Police in the state when he conflicted with the government of President Muhammadu Buhari. In many states, things unthinkable have happened, and the police have looked helpless.
A week would hardly pass in Plateau and Benue States that the air would not be polluted with bad news of killings and maiming of innocent Nigerians in their homes. It appears as if the job of the police in those two states is just to confirm killings and the number of deaths. And these nefarious activities are being carried out by hoodlums, whose agenda is just to kill and destroy. They boldly raid people’s homes because they are aware that the semblance of arms available to the people are cutlasses and hoes, their farming tools. So when they storm their villages, attacking them from ubiquitous corners, they are sure to harvest deaths in big numbers. And that has been the situation for years now. If there were state police, the needless deaths would certainly take backstage because the marauders would know there is an existing obstacle to their death-mongering activities.
In Benue State, just like in Plateau, criminal gangs, bandits, and agents of violence have seized locations and made the environment a living hell for citizens. Recently, some villagers staged a protest in Makurdi, the state capital, calling on the government to liberate them from unknown gunmen. They claimed that they could not go to farms unless they paid for protection. They cannot also harvest their farm produce unless they pay the military for protection. What kind of life is that for a freeborn in his or her own country of birth?
But those are not the only states where living has become hellish and life become brutish and short in the federation. Across the 36 states, there is hardly anywhere people can sleep with two eyes closed. The military, which is fighting insurgency in the main battlegrounds of the North East and North West, has had to share its resources across the states for internal security operations. That would not be necessary where the State Police is effective.
The Police Force is usually jittery anytime it is about having a rival in the internal security initiative. We can recall the bitter enmity between the Police, the FRSC, and the NSCDC when each of them was formed. The same was noticeable when the Southwest states formed the Amotekun Corps. They don’t need that enmity.
In its previous debates on the idea of State Police, especially in the 7th Assembly, the Senate had proposed options to answer the concerns raised by the IGP. It proposed the setting up of a National Police Commission, which would oversee instances of conflicts between the Federal Police and the State Police. The body would also listen to and investigate petitions concerning misuse of the police at the state level. For instance, a citizen should be free to forward his complaint to the Federal Police or the State Police if he senses possible bias by either force. The commission should be empowered to sanction the Commissioner of state police with removal and possible prosecution where clear infractions, such as political intimidation or victimisation, become noticeable.
Rather than the police authorities dissipating energy on speculating about the likely abuse of State Police, it should clear the logs of inactivity, dwindling professionalism, and internal sabotage among its officials and the rank and file. They should bother about the practically uninhabitable barracks where policemen are kept and the inhuman treatment usually meted out to families of their men who die on active duty. The leadership of the police should be ashamed that whereas the other forces, especially the armed forces have been handling the welfare of their officers and men in a coordinated manner, that of the police is shambolic and non-existent.