States not in position to maintain state police – Makinde

Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, has called on the Federal Government to revisit the demands by state governors to establish state police amidst the security challenges bedeviling the country.

He made this known yesterday in his office in Ibadan, when he received the Conference of Speakers of State Legislators, South-West chapter, led by its chairman and Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Adeoye Aribasoye. The Speakers visited the governor to commiserate over the January 16 explosion in Bodija.

Makinde said the quest to establish state police led the South-West governors to form the Western Nigeria Security Network Agency, also known as Amotekun, after the refusal of the federal government to approve their demands a few years ago. However, he said the time has come for the Federal Government to revisit the issue.

“A lot of people may not know that before we launched Amotekun in this state, some of us governors went to the Federal Government and we asked to be allowed to set up state police for our various states but we did not get that approval during the time of President Muhammadu Buhari.”

The Governor said the fears that states would not be able to manage state police are unfounded. However, he maintained that states are not in the position to manage state police because it is on the exclusive list, and if that responsibility is split, the state should have access to resources from the federation account to meet the responsibility of managing the police.

He said, “I disagreed at that particular time and still disagree to date that the states are not in the position to maintain state police. I have never seen where the Federal Government went to a particular state and gave the police everything they needed. So, the states are already maintaining the police. The issue of being unable to maintain state police will not arise again. Give us the responsibility first and see if certain states will be able to maintain it or not.

“But since we could not get state police, we settled for Amotekun. All the state assemblies in the South West passed a common law for its establishment. So, we have to be pushing for state police, and you lawmakers have a role to play to make that a reality.”

Makinde emphasised the need for collaboration between the executive arm of government and the legislators to deliver and bring development to the people.

“I want to observe that you need to all come together irrespective of the political party that brought you into office. This is a demonstration that the electioneering period is over, and you need to have everybody pulling together to govern and deliver dividends of democracy to our people,” he said.

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