Son of the soil must police the soil – Fasehun

[MrVan]

Even before the issue of state police becomes popular, Dr. Fredrick Fasehun, leader of the Odua Peoples' Congress (OPC) is one of early agitators for its creation. In this interview with Charles Adingupu, he blamed the delay of creating state police on politicians who introduce politics into every stage of our development.

Excerpts.

What is your reaction to Northern governors stance on state police?

We are in a federal system and if Nigeria must move on, it should operate a truly federal system. Even in America from where we have copied the presidential system, there is the FBI and there are Metropolitan police. So, who says that the southerner cannot have a police and the federal government, a federally policing system.

Fredrick Fasehun Here in the south, we suffer a lot from the police system. You bring somebody from Damaturu to come and police Ajegunle. What does he know about Ajegunle? Better still, you take somebody from Owerri to go to Maiduguri. How will he police Maiduguri very well? And of course, the level of insecurity at the moment calls for the son of the soil to police the soil.

But there is fear of victimisation of non-indigenes by state police?

No, this idea is by Nigerians who don't want Nigeria to change from this backward status. We're moving on and aspiring to democracy, the rule of law, pervasive contentment and some people are dragging us back that we should not have all the features of true democracy and true federalism for God's  sake. Democracy is democracy. We could not be democratic on one aspect and undemocratic on the other. If anybody victimises the other person, the law of the land is there. If I go to Sokoto and people deny me my right, I will kick. I will go to any length. If I don't get justice from the Sultan, I will go to court. Let us not think of victimisation. We had these local government police in the past. Those who were wearing short nickers. How much victimisation do they carry out?

But don't you think  state police will become an instrument in the hands of politicians like governors and lawmakers?

The governor is there for a maximum period of eight years and no power is permanent. And I can say that the governor must be a democrat to run democracy. Again, the governor cannot be democratic on one aspect and undemocratic on the other. That's why we are saying that there shall not be impunity for anybody. If the governor commits an offence against the law of the land, you don't need to wait on till his tenure expires before you take him to court.

Was it because of the delay in approving state police that you created the OPC group?

You never know. It may be that somebody like that don't take to suggestion. There are many of us now who are thinking along that line. The entire south is thinking along that line. And we don't want any selfish inclinations to draw us back from our democratic aspirations. It is the right thing to do. Like I said earlier, we are copying our system from the Americans. The Americans have Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Metropolitan or local government police. So, why are we taking the federal system from America but we are shading the police structure?

If the Federal Government eventually approves state police, don't you think the South West will automatically adopt the OPC members as their state police while the Niger Delta people will conscript members of the militants as well?

Government secures the government. The ethnic nationality groups secure the people. Which one is more important in the democratic process? Securing the people. We have not been given free hands to secure the people and that is why we have this level of insecurity. Now, do you want me from Ondo, the corner of the South West to go and police the Niger bridge? The man from Asaba or the man from Onitsha will do it better. That's what we are talking about. Politicians are always introducing politics into our development. It is the politicians that will make bad use of the state police. Even now that we have federally controlled police system, don't politicians influence them negatively? Don't they? Of course they do.

If eventually we have state police, what should be the modus operandi of recruiting officers?

It is up to the Commissioner of Police of the state and the governor. An Osun State governor will not depend on the Commissioner in Borno to recruit police officers for Osun. He is directly concerned because he is the chief security officer of the state. He will know what to do; how to do it and all the personnel necessary to do that work effectively. The bulk stops at  his table.

 

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