By Wahab Page
The President, in the course of his special interview with Channels Television, announced the rejection of the establishment of a Police Force for the states. It is on record that the majority of the governors, present and past, had persistently called for the creation, by the Constitution, of state Police, but to no avail.
That apart, it is not within the powers or province of the President to reject the call for the establishment of state Police, as to do that would amount to a display of audacious arrogance.
It is clearly within the powers of the National Assembly to hearken to the clarion calls by the populace and proceed to do the needful.
Unfortunately, the current National Assembly is nothing but a lackey and a disgraceful appendage of the Executive arm of government.
In the past, the National Assembly had wasted so much public funds pretending to amend sections of the Constitution while avoiding those sections that actually impact positively on the lives of the governed.
If the National Assembly proceeds to treat any bill to that effect, brought before it, the President would only assent to it or reject it.
The National Assembly, being the collective representative of the People, can override the President’s veto and if the President thereafter refuses to execute such a law, he would thereby render himself to impeachment.
The totality of this is that the gains of state Police far outweigh the minuses. The issue should not be politicised. Were there state Police in place, the level of insurgency would have been drastically reduced.
There would have been no room for the creation, by some states, of unconstitutional outfits such as the Hisbah, Amotekun, ESN, Wabaizigan, and so on. The single Federal Police that is presently in place is comprised of very many corrupt and bad service personnel.
It is not capable of offering effective policing of the federation. I urge the Executive and the Legislature to give a positive consideration to the issue of state Police. A stitch in time, they say, saves nine.
