Insecurity: Obasanjo Canvasses Creation of State Police

James Sowole in Akure

Worried by the growing insecurity in the country, former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said that creation of a state police would be a better option than community policing.
Obasanjo stated this when the leadership of the National Association of Ex-local Government Chairmen in Nigeria, paid him a courtesy visit in Abeokuta. 
The position of the former president was contained in a statement signed by his Special Assistant on Media, Kehinde Akinyemi.
Obasanjo, who commended the initiative behind the formation of the body, said that the development clearly showed that some local government chairmen in the country were better than even the top elected leaders. 
The former president, while responding to one of the speakers, Chinwe Monu-Olarewaju’s submission on creation of community police to curb the wave of insecurity, said that the idea needed to be changed.
“Our situation in Nigeria concerns everyone, particularly the case of terrorism. The case has gotten over the issue of community police. It is now state police. It is from that state police that we can now be talking about community police.”
He also spoke on the need to strengthen the traditional system and the local government administration, “which I prepared during the popular Murtala/Obasanjo administration, because I believe that there is need to enable that tier of government to work truly as a local government. They have their own Executive, Judiciary and Legislature”. 
“They were working and they were very visible, building and managing roads, looking into education, health, local administration, agriculture, but they were all gone,” Obasanjo said.
He said that the experience that  the former chairmen had in local government administration was enough to aspire for higher posts, stressing that some of them have the competence, ability and integrity to get to the posts.
Obasanjo, who was presented with a letter of a life patron, assured them that he would look into their request, adding that he would be available on request for their needs at all times.
Speaking during the visit, the leader of the delegation and the pioneer National chairman of the association, Hon. Albert Asipa, told the former president that they decided to come together in all the 774 local governments in the country so that they can contribute to the economic and political developments of the country. 
He said it was in realisation of Obasanjo’s position as father of local governments in Nigeria that made them to visit him in order to actualise their goals.
Among the delegation were the branch chairman for Ogun State, Shoyemi Coker, Monu-Olarewaju (Delta State), who is also the BoT chairman and the traditional ruler of Odogbolu, Oba Toye Mojeed Alatise, and Gbegande of Ososa, among others.