A former military governor, Alhaji Usman Faruk, has said that setting up a police force controlled by state governments will lead to wars among the states, stifle national politics and worsen sectional tensions. Faruk, who as police officer served as governor of the defunct Northwestern State in 1966-1975, said in an interview with Daily Trust in Kaduna that the problems caused by state police in the 1950s and 1960s would be back if state police is created now, and that this time the nation may not be able to handle them.
"Even at that time in the 50's and 60's, we had a scale of problems and we saw the problems state police caused in the nation. The presidential candidate of the Action Group, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, and the presidential candidate of NCNC, Late Nnamdi Azikiwe, and others, they found it very difficult to campaign up North because of the influence of state police," he said.
"In the same vein, the Tafawa Balewa's NPC then and the Sardauna, they found it very difficult to campaign in the southern part of Nigeria. Now after 47 years, we are lucky we have gone beyond that, and that the era of state police had ended. For us to reopen it, it means that we have not done anything since then. It means national parties will not be able to campaign all round the country.
"The second problem will be that in a state, if the Nigerian Police commissioner gives an order, that order will be nullified by the head of state police; so there is going to be continuous conflict and problem in that particular area.
"Point number three...which is the most dangerous one: the moment you commit a crime in the North (and escape to another state in the South) nobody will touch you since the boundaries in the state will be a bar to any authority chasing a criminal....we are going to encourage war between the states especially when different political parties are controlling the states."
Faruk was speaking in the light of recent controversy over state police. The Nigerian Governors Forum is canvassing for state police, but the Northern States Governors Forum is opposed to it. Former military president Ibrahim Babangida joined the fray on Thursday, saying creating a state police force would be useful to the nation.
But Faruk said, "It will not work, it will only throw us back to a written confederation where each state will be independent of the FG and there will be no national campaign, no national figure for any other parties to campaign in another state and it is going to be dangerous."
Asked what is the way out, Faruk said, "The way out is that if they have to go back 50 years ago instead of moving forward and create state police, then they should go with any police because the state police will fail...and the next slide down will be that the British will be asked to come back and take over the country."
He added: "The solution is, first raise the salaries and welfare of the police...and in the next 10 years, the police will reach nothing less than 5 million because Nigeria with its large population ought to have 3 million policemen in uniform, not only in uniform but fully equipped, well paid, well-motivated and the thing will work." (Read full interview with Alhaji Usman Faruk on page 10)
Daily Trust
This idea will definately do more harm than good
I buy d idea hundred percent, he makes sense. State police is nt wht we need nw at al.