A chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Engr. Kailani Muhammad, has cautioned Nigerians over their consistent agitation for the creation of state police.
According to him, “the agitations for the creation of state police is suicidal to Nigerian democracy.”
The Kaduna-based politician who frowned at the agitations for the formation of state police, noted that there are many reasons indicating that the country is not yet prepared for state police.
Speaking while addressing newsmen in Kaduna, he highlighted obstacles that may hinder the operations of state police in Nigeria if established.
He opined that the Nigerian governors’ mindsets are yet to adjust to the true principles of democracy that it is the government of the people, by the people and for the people.
The APC chieftain added that: “It is instructive to note that, most of our State Governors believe they are demi- gods, and truly act as such. Once they take the Oath of Office, they abandon all tenets and principles of democracy, that essentially brought them to office. The problem is complex.”
He believed that to avail the Nigerian state governors the powers to control an entire state police under their sole authority, it could be suicidal to Nigerian democracy, saying that even now when the police structure is not under their supervision, some state governors attempt to resort to the police commands in their states to coerce the electorate during elections to toe their political paths during voting.
“More over, state governors are presently finding it difficult to pay state staff salaries, so where will they get the money to pay State Police, when they solely rely on the federal government’s allocation without recours to the diverse natural resources in their states to improve on their Intenally Generate Revenue (IGR),” he argued.
He added, “There is a constructive argument that state governors might use State Police to intimidate, blackmail and victimize Nigerians, either for political, ethnic, tribal or social gains for themselves, to the detriment of the state.”