State Police: All 36 States in Full Support and Will Give It Speedy Approval, Says Oyebanji

Governor Biodun Oyebanji of Ekiti State on Wednesday gave an assurance that all the 36 state governors were fully behind the creation of state police and would do their absolute best to bring it to fruition.

Speaking with newsmen after presenting his Certificate of Return for second term to President Bola Tinubu at State House, Abuja, Oyebanji declared, “We are ready for state police. We are thankful to the National Assembly for the constitutional amendments, and we are waiting for them to be transmitted to the state Houses of Assembly.

“The governors have made up their minds that they are going to give it speedy approval so that we can start implementation.”

The governor said the National Economic Council had already deliberated on the issue and most states had submitted their positions in support of the initiative.

Senate Leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, also speaking at the occasion, described the establishment of state police as inevitable.

Bamidele said the initiative had gone beyond  political calculations and had become a practical response to the country’s security realities.

He stated, “It is important that we all know that state police is a child of necessity. It is no longer about political interests or  politics. All of us are on the same page that there is a need for this.”

The ranking senator, who accompanied Oyebanji to see the president, assured Nigerians that the National Assembly was putting in place constitutional and legal safeguards to prevent the abuse of the proposed state police by governors.

He said concerns over possible misuse of the outfit were being taken seriously.

The senate leader acknowledged concerns that governors could exploit state police for political purposes, saying such fears are legitimate. But he insisted that lawmakers were already addressing the fears in the constitutional amendment process.

Bamidele stated, “There will always be fears and concerns. Whether those concerns are well-founded is another issue altogether, but we are not unmindful of them. In most cases, they are legitimate concerns.”

He said even under the current policing structure, governors, as chief security officers of their states, could influence the deployment of the federal police to the extent the system permitted.

He stressed that the proposed legal framework for state police would contain mechanisms aimed at preventing or significantly reducing opportunities for abuse.

Bamidele explained, “We are putting mechanisms in the law, as we are amending the constitution, that will prevent or minimise instances of abuse by state governors.

“It is not everything that can go into the constitution, but what is important is that we are taking these concerns into consideration.”

Bamidele disclosed that more detailed operational safeguards would be incorporated into amendments to the Police Act after the constitutional amendment establishing state police was concluded.

According to him, the Police Act would provide detailed provisions that cannot be accommodated in the constitution.

“In the amendment to the Police Act that will follow, we will spell out more details—details that cannot possibly go into the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” he said.

The senate leader also said the widespread support for the proposal among state governors reflected a growing national consensus on the need to decentralise policing in response to Nigeria’s security challenges.

He expressed confidence that the state Houses of Assembly would speedily endorse the constitutional amendment once it was transmitted by the National Assembly.

Bamidele stated, “All the governors, or most of the governors, are on the same page with us, and that will be demonstrated by the speed with which the bill will receive concurrence in their state Houses of Assembly by the time we eventually transmit it.”