George: Nigeria Needs State Police Urgently

Chuks Okocha in Abuja

Former Deputy National Chairman, South-West, of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olabode George, has said Nigeria needed to implement state police urgently in order to control insecurity in the country.

In a related development, the Centre for Crisis Communication (CCC), has expressed concern over the activities of some groups and parties aimed at escalating tension and restiveness, which could lead to conflict and exacerbate internal security challenges.

George spoke during a television programme, noted that the introduction of state police would reduce the spike in insurgency.

According to the former deputy national chairman of the PDP and a life member of the Board of Trustees, “The constitutional conference committee under former president Jonathan stated that the need to have state police cannot be futuristic. It is so urgent.

“You know, when you go to war, you have a defined enemy, but in this case, it is an insurgency, insecurity within. You don’t know who is who. They can come out in the day and pretend to be part of one area but in the night they turn out to be something else.

“So, what you need will be people within their community to police them. They know themselves, they know the do’s and don’ts of that culture, and they know the rules of the people in that culture.

“So, they would be better off to be able to manage any issues within their communities. For God’s sake, we need the state police.”

Meanwhile, the Centre, a non-governmental organisation committed to peace, while leveraging its expertise in conducting a comprehensive assessment of the performance of Nigeria’s security services based on media coverage in June 2024, highlighted some of the potentially volatile developments.

These, it said, included the ongoing minimum wage dispute between the organised labour and the federal government, the political feud in Rivers State, the Emirship tussle in Kano and similar scenarios in other states, all of which could escalate into serious conflicts.

Speaking at a press conference in Abuja, Board Chairman of the Centre, Major General Chris Olukolade (rtd), said the CCC did not subscribe to trending agitations over economic hardship and calls in social media and from groups urging Nigerians to follow the Kenya example and protest.

“The centre is deeply concerned about the antics of those rooting for the idea of re-enacting the anti-tax crisis in Kenya. Those who believe that such destructive protests in Nigeria will be a way to resolve a crisis are rather calling for what is not consistent with our future and desire for a peaceful and progressive nation.

“We want to reiterate that we are strongly against such actions. So we want to caution against such tendencies and advise that the situation in Nigeria can be better managed with good consensus, discussions, and the necessary consultations.

“In other words, we are strongly against the idea of referring to the Kenya civil model. The outcome of the ENDSARS protests is still fresh in our minds, and it’s not something we can re-enact by any other means,” he said.