Governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, have urged President Muhammadu Buhari to urgently convene a meeting of the Nigeria Police Council, to appoint a substantive Inspector- General of Police.
They gave the advice after a virtual meeting to deliberate on the worsening security situation across the country.
The advice was part of recommendations contained in a communiqué in Abuja on Wednesday, February 17, 2021.
The meeting, which was held under the auspices of the PDP Governors’ Forum, recommended that the Federal Government should take urgent steps to decentralise the Nigeria Police Force.
In the communiqué by the Chairman of the PDPGF, Aminu Tambuwal, the Governors said: “Nigeria Police Force as an institution is a common services agency for all tiers of government in Nigeria; that is why the Nigeria Police Council is made up of President as chairman, 36 State governors, chairman of Police Service Commission and Inspector General of Police as members.
“The council is the constitutionally designated forum for discussion of security matters in the country, particularly with respect to policing.
“It is worthy of note that the newly introduced community policing infrastructure is already being implemented more in breach. The current Nigeria Police Act envisaged that community policing should serve as a decentralised measure of grassroots policing and various roles were assigned to various parties, including the governors of the states.
“Unfortunately, in the constitution and operationalisation of the community policing activities in the various states so far, partisanship has taken over the recruitment process.
“We no longer have faith in the neutrality and capacity of the community policing system to serve the purposes envisaged under the new police Act, we, therefore, call on the police authorities to sanitize the system.”
The meeting further deliberated on the Electoral Act Amendment Bill pending before the National Assembly and urged federal legislators to expedite action in the passage of the bill, saying, “It is necessary in other to avoid the pitfalls that befell the amendment process in the 8th National Assembly, where Mr. President vetoed the bill on the ground among others, that the amendment came too late in the day.”
In attendance were Governors Aminu Tambuwal (Sokoto), Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia), Bala Mohammed (Bauchi), and Duoye Diri (Bayelsa).
Others were Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, Seyi Makinde, and Darius Ishaku of Enugu, Oyo, and Taraba states, respectively.
