By James Adamu
The long-awaited decentralisation of policing in the country moved a step closer to reality on Wednesday after the Senate passed the Constitution Alteration Bill seeking to establish state-controlled police forces, shifting the high-stakes battle to the 36 state Houses of Assembly where at least 24 must endorse the proposal before it can become law.
The passage of the landmark legislation represents a significant victory for advocates of decentralised policing who have campaigned for decades to end the federal government’s exclusive grip on law enforcement.
It also arrives at a time when large swathes of the country remain besieged by banditry, kidnapping, terrorism and communal bloodshed.
Under the constitutional amendment process, the Senate’s approval is only the first hurdle. The proposal must now secure endorsement from at least 24 state Houses of Assembly before it can be transmitted to President Bola Tinubu for final assent.
Lawmakers adopted a manual voting method after electronic voting devices malfunctioned during the exercise. Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele moved a motion urging colleagues to abandon the electronic system to ensure no senator was disenfranchised.
“Rather than go by way of electronic voting, which obviously now will disenfranchise a few or some of our colleagues whose machines are not working, I am moving that we allow every distinguished senator to answer his or her father’s name by doing manual voting,” Bamidele said.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio endorsed the proposal, stating: “For transparency, and the need for the constituents to know where you stand on every issue, it is good for us to go into manual voting.”
Following the adoption of the motion, senators were called individually to publicly declare their positions during the clause-by-clause consideration of the constitutional amendment bills.
The exercise attracted top government officials and governors who observed proceedings from the gallery, including Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani, Ogun State Governor Dapo Abiodun, Ondo State Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa and Chief of Staff to the President Femi Gbajabiamila.
Bamidele explained that the proposed structure clearly delineates the responsibilities of the federal and state police services. Under the framework, state police would handle enforcement of state laws, public safety maintenance, crime detection and prevention within their jurisdictions, protection of lives and property, and other local policing duties.
The federal police, on the other hand, would retain responsibility for protecting federal institutions, counter-terrorism operations, organised crime, cybercrime, border security, arms trafficking, interstate criminal activities and other national security matters.
Bamidele also clarified conditions under which federal authorities could intervene in state security matters, including cases of outright breakdown of public order, incapacity of state police to function, serious violations of fundamental rights, electoral intimidation, and threats to national security. Such interventions would require written authorisation from the President and remain subject to Senate oversight and judicial review.
Recognising long-standing fears that governors could deploy state police as political weapons against opponents and critics, lawmakers inserted explicit anti-abuse provisions into the amendment.
One key safeguard provides that “a state Commissioner of Police shall not arrest, detain, investigate or deploy force against any person, political party or group merely for criticising the government except in accordance with the law.”
Additionally, the National Assembly would retain powers to prescribe minimum national standards relating to recruitment, training, vetting, promotion, discipline, use of force, firearms, complaints procedures, accountability mechanisms, data management and professional conduct for state police services.
Bamidele said the framework generally seeks “to balance local policing autonomy with national cohesion, accountability with operational effectiveness and federal oversight with state responsibility.”
Outside the National Assembly, support for the bill also came from retired Assistant Inspector-General of Police Aare Tunji Alapinni, who described state police as an opportunity to strengthen grassroots security and revive community policing.
Speaking during an interview on Frontline, a current affairs programme on Eagle 102.5 FM, Ilese-Ijebu, Ogun State, Alapinni urged Nigerians to embrace the initiative.
“I’m not saying it has failed. It has not failed. But people are clamoring to see that things could be better. There’s always room for improvement in anything. So, if there’s room for improvement, there’s room for state police. That’s the way I look at it,” he said.
According to him, Nigeria’s security challenges require fresh approaches. “The security situation in the country calls for doing same thing in a different manner and I think the introduction and the clamour for state police is a welcome development, nothing ventured, nothing gained. If we explore it and see how it works, no matter what, we stand to benefit from it. Forget about the pros and the cons. We have lived over the years with entry policing,” he said.
Alapinni dismissed concerns that issues relating to funding and training could halt the reform, arguing that one of the greatest benefits of state policing would be the revival of community intelligence networks.
“Twenty years ago, if a stranger comes into town, people walking around would notice that this man is a stranger and the community will watch him. That’s part of the things we have lost. Those are the things we want to gain with community policing,” he said.
Similarly, the Western Nigeria Security Network, popularly known as Amotekun, has disclosed that the South West is well positioned for a seamless transition to state policing.
Chairman of Amotekun commanders in the region, Adetunji Adeleye, stressed that the decentralisation of Nigeria’s security architecture remains the most viable solution to the country’s insecurity challenges. Adeleye, who is the commander of the corps in Ondo State, cited the success of the Amotekun initiative as evidence that community-based security frameworks are more effective in identifying and apprehending criminals.
“On the issue of state policing in the last couple of years, the position of the Council of Amotekun Commanders of the South West has always been that state policing remains the only viable solution to the present insecurity in the country because it’s easier, especially by adopting the Amotekun initiative, to identify criminals,” he said.
“That is why you find out that this year alone we have arrested and prosecuted well over 500 suspected criminals, and in so many of those cases we’ve been vindicated. Some of them are serving their various jail terms.
“So, I think it is a giant stride in the right direction, adopting state policing as a way of decentralising the security architecture of the country. As per our readiness, as far as the southwest is concerned, we are ready to adjust and conform to whatever is put in place to ensure the smooth takeoff of state policing.”
Also, former Speaker of the Ondo State House of Assembly Jumoke Akindele argued that the success of Amotekun in Ondo State is enough justification for state police to kick off in Nigeria.
“As for the quest to have the requirement of state police entrenched in our Constitution, suffice it to say that methinks that the success of the Amotekun Corps of Ondo State is the strongest case for state police in Nigeria,” she said.
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