Tinubu restates case for state police
By Maxwell Oditta,
Senior
Correspondent,
Lagos
Governor Bola
Tinubu of Lagos State has restated his case for a state-controlled police force
to exist concurrently with the Federal Government-controlled Nigeria Police
Force.
The governor predicated
his call for a state-controlled force on the need to abide by the dictates of
the country’s federal constitution.
The governor who
spoke through his Special Assistant on Security, Major Alexander Babatunde
Panox, his representative at Tuesday’s commissioning of the
Police/Community Relations Committee block at the Okota Police Station at
Isolo, cited Section 215 of the 1999 Constitution to buttress his point.
Tinubu added that
whatever political advantage the Federal Government imagines state governments
would derive from state police was already being enjoyed by the Peoples
Democratic Party-controlled regime at the centre.
He pleaded that his
call for a police force that would meet grassroots’ demands should be not
interpreted to mean that the present police structure in the state do not
enjoyed his confidence.
He enjoined all and
sundry to take part in securing lives and property by joining the PCRC,
Neighbourhood Watch and other civil security-based organisations, saying
Community Policing, which was recently launched in Enugu State, originated in
Lagos.
“Since our
lives have no duplicates, we should participate in policing our
communities,” he said.
Also speaking at
the occasion, the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, Israel Ajao, said the
Nigeria policemen were amongst the best in the world, going by the performance
of its contingents to United Nations Peace-Keeping operations abroad.
Though he expressed
optimism about the success of the community policing in Nigeria, he observed
that there was a public apathy against the police. Many Nigerians, he lamented,
still perceived the police as a colonial heritage.
“It is in our
collective interest to take interest in the Nigeria Police. We can only police
our society successfully and effectively if the public take more interest in
the police,” Ajao said.
