Former Inspector-General of Police Solomon Arase has made his position on the contentious issue state policing known.
Weighing in on the controversial issue, Arase said the socio-cultural, political and economic realities of Nigeria at the moment will make state policing difficult and dangerous.
Speaking in an interview with Vanguard, Arase said politicians, especially governors who see themselves as lords, will abuse the system and the essence and purpose of state policing will eventually be defeated.
He noted that to get the best out of state policing, there must be institutional control and legal instruments that will serve as reins to nudge anyone at the helms of affair who want to abuse the system back in line.
He said “Policing is local. Our various communities were policing themselves before we had the federal structure when the white men came. The only style we had is that for state police to work effectively, there must be institutional control put in the Constitution to ensure that whatever infraction or misuse the state police is put into, there are consequences, otherwise they will become so powerful.
“Even now, are the state governors not so powerful, don’t they want to determine whatever happens in the system? So, it is about political culture, and political maturity and it is about state governors being able to define what power is and also accept that power is transient and must be handled with a lot of caution. In America, have you ever heard that they used their police force against their opponents? The legal system and the societal bonds do not accept that kind of power that we have here. Here what we have are monarchs, traditional institutions where you never oppose whoever is the head of this and that.
“That is the same tendency in their various states. They are Lords unto themselves, after God, they are next. We must remove those powers from them, remove those tendencies for them to be able to know that power must be treated with a lot of responsibility; you don’t use it to intimidate your opponent. People will go as far as preventing some of their opponents from coming into their states to campaign. You know these things are hard.”
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