ADC Kicks Against Constitutional Amendment on State Police

By Eshioromeh Sebastian

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has kicked against the constitutional amendment being pushed through the National Assembly to establish state police, describing the process as panicky and ill-conceived.

In a press statement issued on Friday by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the party declared its support for decentralised policing in principle, but sharply criticised the Tinubu administration’s approach to the reform.

“We support state police. We have always believed that Nigeria’s policing architecture must evolve to reflect the realities of our federal system. But support for state police cannot be confused with support for the Tinubu administration’s handling of this important national reform,” the statement read.

The ADC argued that the current legislative push is a hurried response to a worsening security crisis rather than the careful institutional planning required to build a functional and accountable policing system.

“What we are witnessing is a hurried response to a worsening security crisis, not the careful institutional planning required to build a functional, accountable, and effective policing system,” Abdullahi said.

The party stressed that state police is too important, and the security of Nigerians too urgent, to be reduced to a quick legislative fix or rushed through without broad consultation.

The ADC also took a swipe at the administration for attempting to package a long-standing national consensus as a bold new initiative, warning that state police is not a silver bullet for the country’s current security challenges.

“There is nothing novel about the idea of state police. Decentralised policing has been part of Nigeria’s constitutional and political conversation for decades and today enjoys broad national support,” the party noted.

“What is new is the attempt by the Tinubu administration to package this long-standing national consensus as a bold new initiative and, worse, to present it as a silver bullet for the country’s current security crisis. It is neither.”

The opposition party questioned the timing of the reform, pointing out that if President Tinubu were genuinely committed to state police, he would not have waited until almost the end of his tenure to begin rushing through a constitutional amendment.

The ADC raised concerns about critical unanswered questions, including safeguards against political intimidation, oversight mechanisms, recruitment protocols, funding arrangements, and accompanying reforms to prosecution, correctional services, forensic capacity, and intelligence coordination.

“These are not secondary questions. They are the difference between building a professional police service and creating another institution that may be vulnerable to abuse,” the party warned.

The ADC equally cautioned against presenting state police as a substitute for reforming the Nigeria Police Force, arguing that creating another policing layer without addressing existing structural deficiencies simply duplicates weakness instead of multiplying effectiveness.

“Nigeria’s federal police will continue to bear primary responsibility for national security, counterterrorism, interstate crime and intelligence coordination. If the structural deficiencies of the existing police are left unaddressed, creating another policing layer simply duplicates weakness instead of multiplying effectiveness,” the statement added.

The party reaffirmed its commitment to a multi-layered policing framework built on federal, state, and community policing, with clearly defined jurisdictions, enforceable national standards, independent oversight, and stronger community intelligence.

It however insisted that policing alone cannot deliver security, noting that effective law enforcement depends on functioning courts, modern correctional services, professional prosecution, intelligence coordination, forensic capacity, technology, and accountable institutions working together.

“Security is too serious to be treated as another political posturing. Nigerians deserve reforms that are carefully designed and institutionally sound, not reforms driven by political urgency or public relations considerations,” the ADC declared.

The party pledged to support measures that genuinely strengthen Nigeria’s security, while opposing every attempt to substitute the hard work of building institutions capable of keeping Nigerians safe with mere political theatre.