Insecurity: State police now better option, says Obasanjo

Olusegun Obasanjo, ex-Nigeria president has called for the creation of state police to tackle the growing insecurity in the country.

According to Obasanjo, the creation of state police would be a better option than community policing.

The former President said state police should be given a priority above community policing to curb the wave of insecurity ravaging the country.

The Special Assistant to Obasanjo on Media, Kehinde Akinyemi in a statement quoted the former president as saying this when the leadership of the National Association of Ex-Local Government Chairmen in Nigeria paid him a courtesy visit in Abeokuta on Wednesday.

Obasanjo spoke on the need to strengthen the traditional system and the local government administration.

He said, “Our situation in Nigeria concerns everyone, particularly, the case of terrorism. The case has gotten over the issue of community police. It is now state police. It is from that state police that we can now be talking about community police.

“I prepared during the popular Murtala/Obasanjo administration, because I believe that there is need to enable that tier of government to work truly as a local governmen. They have their own Executive, Judiciary and Legislature.

“They were working and they were very visible, building and managing roads, looking into education, health, local administration, agriculture, but they were all gone.”

Obasanjo, who was presented with a letter of a life patron, assured them that he would look into their request, assuring further that he would be available on request for their needs.

Speaking on the initiative, Obasanjo who commended the people behind the formation of the body, said that the development clearly showed that some local chairmen in the country were better than even the top elected leaders.

Earlier, Ashipa told the former President why they decided to come together in all the 774 local governments in the country, saying, “We can also contribute to the economy and political developments of the country.

“And realising your position as father of local government in Nigeria, we need you to actualise our goals, hence this all important visit. And to come and say happy 85th birthday celebrations.”