Retired army officer, Gen. Ijioma Nwokoro Ijioma, has rejected the proposal by President Bola Tinubu for the creation of state police, warning it could be exploited by governors to target political opponents.
Speaking in Umuahia, the former General said insecurity in Nigeria cannot be solved by decentralising the police, stressing that the existing federal police system only needs proper reform.
“Who is going to be the person that will issue orders to those state police? Is it the governors that you have today?” he asked. “That state police will become the thugs for the state governors. Take my word for it.”
He argued that the federal police structure was effective in the past when allowed to function independently and should be strengthened rather than abandoned.
“When you make the police dysfunctional, then you start looking for state police. And when you now introduce state police, it becomes a frank incest. The governors will pocket them and use them to do their own bidding,” he said, urging President Tinubu not to proceed with the plan.
