State police ‘will ruin Nigeria’

Ibrahim Olaniyan, national vice chairman, south/west of the Police Community Relations Committee (PCRC) in Nigeria, has warned against the establishment of state police.

In an interview with NAN, he said the establishment of state police will create anarchy and ruin Nigeria.

Olaniyan said PCRC was opposed to the creation of state police because it would only cause more harm than good to the security situation in the country.

The bill seeking to establish community and state police passed first reading at the senate and second reading at the house of representatives in July 2018.

Olaniyan insisted that the federal police remain the best to fight crime and improve on the electoral system.

According to him, those clamouring for the formation of state police are doing so at their self-interest.

“The state police would be a ready instrument politicians would use to deal with perceived enemies,” Olaniyan said.

“We are not ripe for state police; those calling for state police, especially some governors and politicians, are only canvassing it for selfish interests, not because of national interest.

“For selfish interest because they know they will use it to unleash terror on opponents, especially during elections.

“The only way to combat insecurity is by retaining federal police, and by consistently educating our people on the need to give timely and correct information about the situations around them to the police for prompt action

“The police are not complicit in the insecurity being experienced, because it is the people themselves that are harbouring criminals. They do not report suspected criminals to the police for arrest.

Olaniyan said instead of creating state police, more officers should be recruited into the force to strengthen it.

He urged Nigerians to provide police with necessary information to curb the activities of criminals.

“Policemen are not magicians, while criminals are not ghosts. All these people you call criminals are living among us,” he said.

“They are not spirits. If they stayed in an hotel, somebody has the hotel and he knows the data of those staying in his premises.

“In the olden days, people had this misconception that if they gave police any information, the police will, in turn, divulge it for financial gains.

“This is not true of our federal police of today.

“Let us strengthen community policing. Nigeria has over 200 million population and we cannot boast of one million or 500,000 policemen.

“We need to police this nation by ourselves by helping the police with the right information as members of the public.”

President Muhammadu Buhari had questioned the demand for the establishment of state police over the financial implications of running it.

He, rather, approved the recruitment of 6,000 more officers.