INSECURITY: State Police not an option —Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari has stated that establishing state police was not an option to resolving the insecurity currently bedeviling many parts of the country.

He stated this during an interview on Channels television on Wednesday.

Various stakeholders had repeatedly championed the entrenchment of State Police as a means of tackling insecurity across the country.

Nonetheless, President Buhari explained that the reason for his rejection was due to the potential for abuse by state governors.

He said, “State police is not an option. Find out the relationship between local government and the Governors. Are the third tier of government getting what they are supposed to get constitutionally? Are they getting it? Let the people in local government tell you the truth, the fight between local governments and the Governor.”

The President also called for a holistic approach towards crime-fighting by incorporating traditional rulers into the policing and security value chain.

Read also: ‘Channel demands for devolution of power, state police to N’Assembly,’ Pro-Buhari group tells governors

“The role of traditional rulers must not be undermined, because in their areas they know who is who, even by families, not to even talk of individuals.

“So, we have to revert to that system for us to have effective security in the localities.

“For example, there were two Governors that came to see me about problems – Oyo state and one other state – because the herders were in their forests but the animals were going into the neighbouring farms, and eating the crops; I said, as far as I know, the farmers and herders have been co-existing in Nigeria for generations. Let them go and ask the local leadership what has gone wrong, why the break in communication between the local leadership and the herders,” Buhari said.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now