State police will give governors the powers to secure their states more effectively, analysts say. But Buhari thinks otherwise
By Ishaya Ibrahim, News Editor
Nigeria’s security situation fares only better than Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. Even Iraq, a haven for terrorists, had lower terrorism-related deaths than Nigeria.
Nigeria comes second in the ranking of the world most terrorized countries, worst than Somalia, Yemen, and even Sudan. Yet, President Muhammadu Buhari does not believe there is a problem with Nigeria’s security structure.
Buhari, in a recorded interview with Channels Television since he rarely gives live ones, says state police is not an option for the country. The interview will be aired today at 7 pm.
Nigeria is supposed to operate a federal structure. But that is on paper. In practice, Nigeria is operating a unitary system of government where Abuja dictates almost everything for all the component units.
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For instance, hundreds of policemen yesterday came to Lagos to enforce a court judgment without the knowledge of the State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu who is supposed to be the Chief Security Officer of the state.
When the governor asked the leader of the police team, a Chief Superintendent of Police, Abimbola Oyewole, to call his superiors that the governor of Lagos had ordered him to back down, the policeman bluntly told him no.
Returning to Buhari and his argument against state police, Buhari said the highhandedness of Governors against local government funds, was the reason for depriving states of the autonomy to run their police system. But again, analysts can hardly find the connection between Buhari’s analogy of governors and local government funds with the issue at hand.
He said: “State police is not an option… Find out the relationship between local government and the Governors. Are the third tier of government getting what they are supposed to get constitutionally? Are they getting it? Let the people in local government tell you the truth, the fight between local governments and the Governor.”
When asked about the escalating insecurity in the country, Buhari passed the buck as usual to traditional rulers. He said traditional rulers must play a huge role in bringing peace to communities.
He also advocated for more dialogue in solving the farmer-herder clashes recorded across the country.
“The role of traditional rulers must not be undermined, because in their areas they know who is who, even by families, not to even talk of individuals,” he said.
