This Day (Lagos)

Nigeria: Why Northern Govs Are Against State Police

Photo: Daily Trust
Women flee the bombing at the St. Finbarr’s Catholic Church in Jos. (file photo)

A non-governmental organisation, Jubilee Democratic Emancipation Group (JUDEG), Wednesday gave reason why Northern Governors' Forum was opposed to state police in the country, saying that the governors were resisting establishment of state police because it will curtail the North's security advantage over the South.

President of JUDEG, Dr. Niwo Oluwatade, who stated this while exchanging words with journalists in Benin City, also explained that the other reason northern governors were not supporting state police was because they already have local police to enforce their Sharia system.

According to him, "State police is necessary for states in the south because apart from the police operating in a familiar environment where they know members of the communities, such police will enable the governors of the state function better as they will be in total control of the security of their states as opposed to the present arrangement where the police is controlled from Abuja."

He argued that the only way the country could survive was through adherence to true federalism or operation of the present six geo-political zones on the basis of equality in fiscal matters.

Observing that Boko Haram has been in existence and operated in various forms for long, Oluwatade said the North was destroying itself through the Islamic sect which has carried out serial bombings and shootings leading to deaths and destruction of properties in parts of the North.

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