The Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, has taken a firm stand against the establishment of state police in Nigeria, arguing that the country is not yet ripe for it.
Abubakar, who marked two years in office as the nation’s number one cop at the weekend, said in an exclusive interview published in the latest edition of Chief Detective magazine: “We are not yet ripe for the state police. I’m not saying there shouldn’t be state police; we are not yet ripe for it.
“I’ll cite several examples. Check countries of the world, which are operating the state police. How many years of their independence? Take Britain. Take United States, and take any European country that you can call. We are talking of 2000 years in the United States. How old are we? Do they have the challenges we have? Do they have the issue of where are you from? Do they have the challenges of ‘I was born in Lagos, but I’m not a Lagosian?’ Do they have the religious crisis that we have: I’m a Muslim, you’re a Christian? Do they have the level of tribal differences in the states; that I’m Ijaw, you’re Itsekiri, you’re Igbo, or you’re Eka-Igbo? Do they have such challenges? So, these are issues that should be put into consideration.
“Do they have the same political issues that we have; the same political problems; that I want to contest as President, but because you’re not from the North, you cannot contest, or because you’re not from the South or West or South-South or South-East you cannot contest, or it’s not your turn? And I continue to ask questions. Tell me one state in Nigeria today, where you have ‘A’ party in power and local government election is conducted and ‘B’ party wins all the seats. Why is it so?
“It’s not state police. Now what happens, when you have a Commissioner of Police appointed by the state governor? We just concluded Anambra election. In Imo, we arrested 230 persons from Osun State with voter cards, with ID cards of INEC. The Commissioner of Police arrested them, went to a hotel, based on intelligence information; searched for them; got them: rigorously.
“Tell me what would have happened if the Commissioner of Police was appointed by the Governor of Imo State. Will he have arrested them? Will he have prosecuted them? These are germane issues that we should consider very seriously.”
Speaking on the way forward, Abubakar said: “What we need to do is to continue to build on our community policing projects. When it is time for state police, it will come to happen.
“And that is when, I’m born in Lagos; whether I’m from Sokoto or Zaria, or from Maiduguri; I’m born in Lagos, therefore I have the right to contest with anybody in Lagos. The constitution says 10 years. If you have stayed 10 years, you can contest.
“Today, most people who live in other states are not treated as citizens of that state. Is that the kind of country we want? So, which means you have been denied your fundamental rights. But, nobody is talking about it. I’m sure time will come for state police. And what do you do, if you have ethnic crisis in the state? If in my state, I’m a Hausa man, and I have Fulani, Ibo, and Yoruba people, and I’m the Governor of the state. I appointed the Commissioner of Police in the state, who is a Hausa man like me, and Ibo people are fighting with Hausa. What will happen?
“The Commissioner of Police is Hausa, because it’s a Hausa State. The DC is Hausa, the AC is Hausa, the DPOs are Hausa, all the policemen are Hausa; so what will they do with the Ibo, whether they are right or wrong?”
Abubakar added that several factors should be taken into consideration, concerning the issue of the Federal Police Force, in terms of decentralization of powers, pointing out that most of the problems have been addressed by the Dan Malami and M.D. Yusuf reform, in which the government accepted certain number of suggestions made, and the present administration has completed all the police aspect of the reform.
