The member representing Pankshin/Kanke/Kanam federal constituency , Yusuf Adamu Gagdi, has warned that governors cannot be trusted with state police.
He said given the manner they abuse the state independent electoral commissions (SIECs) in the outcome of local government elections the situation is scary.
Gagdi stated this while speaking with in Abuja on Tuesday.
He was responding to the push for the establishment of state police in the ongoing review of the 1999 constitution by the National Assembly.
The National Assembly is reviewing the 1999 constitution, with the creation of state police ranking among the major proposals on the table.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and several governors have expressed their support for the creation of state police which they argued, will help tackle security challenges, including banditry, kidnappings, and other violent crimes.
Gagdi argued that the manner governors hijack the local government system through the State Independent Electoral Commissions showed that state police if created would be abused as well.
He said local government elections conducted by SIECs usually shut out opposition parties while the ruling parties usually sweep all the positions which he argued, it’s not the case with election conducted by INEC.
He said, “No matter how you describe it, INEC has conducted elections in Nigeria where you have opposition governors.
“There is no election conducted by INEC that the opposition does not win more than 10 of the 36 states in the federation
“But tell me one state in Nigeria where the state independent electoral commission conducts elections and you have 2 per cent of the members of the legislative arm of government at the local government level. Mention one. Irrespective of APC and PDP, I am not talking about the party now.
“Mention one state governor who conducted an election and you have 2 per cent of the members of the local legislative council won by the opposition.
“Tell me one state, including my APC states, that you have one or two local government council chairman that the opposition members win.
“It means, therefore, that you will rate INEC at the national level as more transparent and better than the state independent electoral commissions.
“Now, if the governors cannot handle a state independent commission fairly, how will you trust them with the power to control AK-47s at the state level? I am entitled to my opinion.
“If they cannot handle a state-independent electoral commission well and even allow opposition to win in a relatively fair election, but they take everything for themselves, strangling opposition, chasing and arresting and announcing the result they want to announce.
“This does not happen in a national election [election conducted by INEC], how do you give them (governors) state police?”, he queried.
He said this raises doubts about giving governors control over armed security.
“How do you think he [governor] will use state police? If you give him [the governor] civil power to conduct elections and he uses it militarily, what if you give him military power?”
“Instead of creating state police, the lawmaker advocated strengthening community policing already recognised in the Police Act, which, he noted, gives communities a role in nominating representatives for policing at local, state, and federal levels.”
