Lagos — Their Excellencies governing the thirty-six states are the chief security officers of their domains but with no powers even over the police constable.

You can imagine what would have happened to their psyche when President Olusegun Obasanjo announced that they were to be cured of this impotency. Henceforth, a state governor would not only have powers over the constable but can actually give orders to the state Commissioner of Police (CP)

Before we start congratulating their Excellencies, let us ask the question, who can establish a police force? The answer is, none can be established outside the existing federal police force. That is section 214 of the constitution. Next question, who controls the police? Answer, the President who appoints the Inspector General of Police (IG) the simple logic is, he who controls, dictates.

So the policeman, from constable through the commissioner to the IG owe allegiance and loyalty not to their Excellencies, but to the President who sits atop matters of their recruitment, pay, promotion, and discipline.

Aso Rock may argue that the President is quite sincere about his pronouncement and that it is in line with Section 214(4) of the Constitution. If you open to that provision, it is stated that the Governor or such commissioner authorized by the state government "may" give to the CP, "lawful directions". The question is who determines whether a governor's directive to the CP is "lawful"? Certainly not the governor himself. The man on the ground who determines whether the governor's directive is lawful is the CP himself while outside the state, those who can determine the "lawful" nature of such directive range from the IG to the President

This provision of the constitution goes on to state that before the CP can carry out a governor's directive, he may request that the matter be referred to the President or any other authorized minister.

It might well be that the President wants to waive his powers, suspend or amend this section of the constitution. But unfortunately he has no such powers. Only the National Assembly under Section 9 of the constitution has these powers.

Other questions arising from the president's statement include one such as, what happens if a governor's instruction to a CP contradicts that of higher police authorities such as the Assistant Inspector General in a zone? What happens if a CP declines to carry out a governor's directive, would this amount to insubordination to an higher officer?

So what does President Obasanjo's proclamation amount to? As far as I am concerned, nothing.

President Obasanjo's statement which is neither backed by law or the constitution is like a mother telling a kid that he owns a hen. The kid may give special attention to the hen including feeding it religiously. But it is the day the hen is killed that the child knows who really owned it. First, he will not be consulted before the hen is killed, secondly, he would end up being given only a leg of the hen. The true owner of the hen is of course the mother and she would just have been humouring the kid that the hen belongs to him. The President is merely humouring their Excellencies that they can now control the CPs; only unserious governors would take such a statement serious.

In any case, whether PCs take directives from governors, or not, may not change the attitude of the police, improve their performance or change the public's lack of confidence in the Force.

The President's statement does not address fundamental issues such as the incompetence, lack of will, corruption and lack of equipment that has bedeviled the police. Again, there is the issue of the police seeing itself not as a people-friendly organization but as a brutal force that must be feared. A police force that is feared and distrusted cannot gain the confidence of the public, and such a police cannot get the needed information and assistance from the public which are needed to ensure security in the country.

There is also the reality that although constitutionally there can be only one police force, in practice there are numerous police forces. In the Sharia practicing states, the Sharia enforcing youths are nothing but a police system. The OPC battling suspected armed robbers in the west, investigating alleged crimes and forcing down prices of goods is a police force in reality. The youth movements in the Niger Delta and the Bakassi Boys in the East are nursery police forces that may still blossom.

In all these, a fundamental question arises; should there just be one formal police force? The Constitution proclaims us a "Federal Republic" In other words, we are a federation. All federations have constituent units. In our own case, the federating units are neither the Senate nor the Armed Forces. The federating units are the ethnic nationalities, the old regions or the new states. It is the federating units who own land or are composed of the people. Properly speaking, the only land the central government should own, is the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) it is on this territory its police should operate while the federating units, in this case, the states, should have their own police. The issue of the police reflects the unitary system the country has been forced to run since the first military coup thirty-four years ago. If we want to practice democracy, we must return to federal principles as massaging the ego of governors won't do.