President Buhari Insists ‘State Police Not An Option’

President Muhammadu Buhari has restated his opposition to state governments having their own police.

The President said this in an interview with Channels Television aired on Wednesday.

Proponents of federalism have argued that in a true federal structure, states should control their own security agencies to complement that of the federal government.

But President Buhari stated that have a State police is not an option while more attention should be paid to the relationship between local government and state Governors.

“State police is not an option. Find out the relationship between local government and the Governors. Are the third tier of government getting what they are supposed to get constitutionally? Are they getting it? Let the people in local government tell you the truth, the fight is between local governments and the Governor,” President Buhari stated.

 The President further added that the roles of traditional rulers in the country should not be undermined in bringing peace to communities.

“The role of traditional rulers must not be undermined, because in their areas they know who is who, even by families, not to even talk of individuals,” he said.

This is not the first time that the President had rejected state policing despite calls from the state governors.

President Buhari had noted that though state policing was a good initiative, he however alluded to the propensity for Governors to abuse their powers as well as some of them may be unable to pay the officers’ salaries.