State Police: Govs Counting On Successors To Shield Them Playing Risky Games — Prof

Governors who intend to misuse the state police’s apparatus would be playing a risky game, according to Prof. Kemi Rotimi, as the debate over state police as a veritable option to address security issues gains momentum and legitimate concerns of those who oppose the proposed arrangement.

Governors who rely on their successors to shield them after their terms in office would experience the shock of their lives, according to the don, who lectures in the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Osun State’s Department of History.

He was a guest on Channels Television’s socio-political program Inside Sources with Laolu Akande, which aired on Friday.

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The 36 states have submitted their positions on state police as of December 2024, with the exception of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), with the majority of them believing state-controlled policing would help address rising threats like banditry, kidnapping, ritual killings, among others menacing trends. This January, talks with the National Economic Council are expected to continue.

Governors will use the state’s tool to defeat perceived foes, which is one of their main fears, and they will use it to rig elections.

However, Rotimi stressed that the principle of federalism underscores state policing and that “if there is any beauty in Nigeria’s constitution, especially at the executive level, it is term limitation. However, nice you may be, it is eight years and it is the end”.

The professor claimed that policing involves investing one man with state authority to affect another’s freedom, even in the area of crime control, and that he had written some books on the history of policing in Nigeria.

He said, “Any governor who has control over the police in his state during the pendency of his governorship, which can be a maximum of eight years, is a fool. He only has a choice: to pass away in his office. Everything he uses the police to do while in office against his opponent will be used against him if he doesn’t pass away.

The police owe loyalty to the current government because they didn’t create it and weren’t the ones to choose who won the election. They are required to work for him after a man emerges and has taken the governor’s oath.

“Once the regime is over, they (the police) are still there. So, the new man comes and is saluted. The police applaud him when he gives instructions.

“Since 1999, we have had the Nigeria Police Force, haven’t you seen what has happened in states? Former governors are currently unable to travel to their states. Therefore, it is incumbent governor’s responsibility to be decent, and you cannot pass laws that promote self-respect and decency.

Don’t just try it; you need to have the determination to prove you’re a decent person. Missusing the police is a dangerous game. Cast your minds back from 1999 till now. What happens to the successors and predecessors after how many governors plant them?

Source: Channels TV