- Sani said he’s been vocal on the creation of state police and he’s delighted that some governors were now supporting his agitation
Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna State, says the perennial insecurity that plagues the nation can only be addressed by state policing.
Speaking in an interview on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, Sani said state police is the antidote and lasting solution to menace of insecurity ravaging the North and the country at large.
He stated that he’s been vocal on the creation of state police and he’s delighted that some governors were now supporting his agitation.
Sani said, ”In the last six months or thereabout, I have been insisting that we can only address the issue of insecurity if we establish state policing.
”I am happy that some few weeks ago some governors joined me in agitating for state police and it was a lone voice.”
”Some governors have also done a lot in the last few months by establishing or empowering the vigilance services.”
Governor Sani disclosed that normalcy had returned to the affected community and efforts were underway to rescue those abducted by the bandits.
He also noted that the measures employed by his comrades are ”temporary measures” at best.
The governor said, ”This can not and can never address the state of insecurity until we agree to collectively agree to establish state police immediately.”
Asked if he was looking to institute a local police network controlled by traditional rulers to aid in the fight against banditry, the governor was insistent that these forms of security outfits would be best suited to ”intelligence gathering and sharing all aimed at supporting other security agencies.”
”If you have vigilante service or vigilante groups or you have community policing, where is the law that allows them to carry AK-47,” he said.
The governor noted that the law hinders these groups from being well-equipped.
The federal government and the state governments had agreed that a state police force was necessary, marking “a significant shift” in approach, Information Minister Mohammed Idris told reporters after the meeting.
The both governments have also agreed on the need to set up state police to reinforce the more than 300,000-strong national police force in the country