Disturbed by the increasing terrorism, kidnapping and sacking of villages etc, the pan Yoruba socio-political organization, Afenifere, has again advocated for the democratization of the police force to stem the menace that is about to consume the whole nation.
In a Press Statement signed by Comrade Jare Ajayi, its National Publicity Secretary, Afenifere expressed regret that the more insecurity seems to be enveloping the country, the more the government appears to be losing grip of how to deal with the menace.
The pan Yoruba organization berated the national assembly members who recently voted against the empowerment of state governments to set up state police. The body’s spokesman then urged the state governors and members of the states’ Houses of Assembly to mount pressure on President Muhammadu Buhari and the national assembly members to allow state police “if they are sincere in putting an end to the menace of insecurity and terrorism in the Nigeria today”.
Latest reports have it that many farmers in Ondo, Ekiti, Ogun, Imo, Abia, Benue and Zamfara States have been kidnapped with some of them killed while communities in Kaduna, Sokoto, Borno, Niger, and Nassarawa have been sacked by gun-wielding terrorists. Borno State Governor Governor Babangana Zulum while commiserating with his Zamfara State counterpart in Gusau, lamented that over 100,000 people have been killed by terrorists in his state in recent times. He was in Zamfara State to condole with Governor Bello Matawale over the devastations wrecked by terrorists on lives and properties in the north western state last week.
Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai early this week was close to tears when reeling out the statistics of thousands of lives of people that have been killed, maimed and turned into widows and orphans by terrorists in his state. Many poultry and crop farms in Oyo and Ogun States have been closed down as a result of constant attacks by kidnappers and armed herders.
Even Katsina State, the birth place of President Muhammadu Buhari, is not spared as reports coming from that state kept posting a near-daily acts of insurgency and terrorism that lead to loss of lives and properties as testified to by the State Governor Bello Masari. A few hours after President Buhari arrived Daura, Katsina State on December 14, 2021, armed gunmen invaded a government-owned secondary school in Kankara and abducted about 600 students.
In the efforts to tame the monster, a lot of security personnel have lost their lives while many were wounded.
Afenifere spokesman then observed that the spate of security and safety infractions makes it look like Nigeria is in the state of war. He therefore challenged those at the helms of affairs to be more sincere in finding effective solutions to the problem.
The immediate strategies to end the scourge are to quickly allow states and local government councils to have their own police force, strengthen the existing security forces and motivate security personnel adequately. Government should also create the atmosphere for youths in the country to be productively engaged, respect the rule of law including fundamental rights of the Nigerian citizens as well as stop treating terrorists and bandits with kid gloves.
To make the suggested strategy enduring and effective, Ajayi called for the amendment of section 214 of the 1999 Constitution to enable states and local government councils to have their own police forces. He stated that this section which made the Nigeria Police Force exclusive to the central government (FG) should be reviewed to read “The National Assembly, States Houses of Assembly and the Local Government Legislative Arm shall legislate on police and security matters in their respective areas of jurisdiction”.
Reiterating its earlier calls for the observance of true federalism in the country, the pan Yoruba organization submitted that most of the issues on the Exclusive Legislative List be reduced considerably. Ajayi who frowned at the operators of the present Constitution for their dictatorial tendencies also blamed the said document for its unitary nature. He recalled that in the 1999 Constitution, 68 items are on the Exclusive Legislative List while only 12 are on the Concurrent List. Meaning that only the federal government can act on 68 items that have to do with the lives of Nigerians while states that are closer to the people can act only on 12 items.
“This is a big slap on the spirit of federalism. It must be changed to vest more power on states and local government councils especially on such issues as security, natural resources, education, health, transport etc”.
