State police will lead to Nigeria’s disintegration- Prof Jinadu, IGP

Professor Adele Jinadu and the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris have cautioned that state police could lead to the disintegration of the country. Prof Jinadu and the IGP were speaking as panelists in the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Section on Public Interest and Development Law (SPIDEL) session at the just concluded Annual General […]

Professor Adele Jinadu and the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris have cautioned that state police could lead to the disintegration of the country.

Prof Jinadu and the IGP were speaking as panelists in the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Section on Public Interest and Development Law (SPIDEL) session at the just concluded Annual General Conference (AGC) last week.

Speaking on the topic: ‘State Policing and National Security- Prospects and Challenges’, Prof Jinadu pointed at possible clashes between one state’s police and another in pursuit of criminals across state boundaries and the political abuse of state police as factors that could lead to anarchy.

The professor of Political Science of the Lagos State University suggested the creation of an ‘All Nigeria Institutions’ and an “All Nigeria Police Force with decentralized structures” to reduce the abuses, corruption and inefficiency in the country’s policing.

The IGP, who was represented by David Igbudu (AIG), said rather than be the solution, state police would be used by politicians to abuse their opponents. He also identified inequality in funding and the capital-intensive nature of security as too much for states to bear.

He said the current police needs to be reinvigorated, funded and equipped with the right technology to detect crimes in the society.

However, the Director General of the Nigerian Intervention Movement (NIM), Veteran Olawale Okunniyi and Law lecturer and analyst Dr, Daniel Bwala, were applauded by the audience as they both spoke in support of state police.

Okunniyi called for a people’s constitution, which will allow each state autonomy to exploits its resources and establish and run its own police.

Bwala recalled the role of the Civillian JTF in turning the tide in the Boko Haram war, said state police will utilized local intelligence in tackling crimes in the states and the country at large.