The Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, has again reiterated his objection to the establishment of state police in Nigeria, arguing that the country is not yet ripe for it.
Abubakar, who marked two years in office as the nation’s number one police officer at the weekend, in an exclusive interview published in the latest edition of Chief Detective magazine said: “We are not yet ripe for the state police. I’m not saying there shouldn’t be state police; we are not yet ripe for it.
“I’ll cite several examples. Check countries of the world which are operating the state police, how many years of their independence? Take Britain, take United States, and take any European country that you can call as instance, we are talking of 2,000 years in the United States. How old are we? Do they have the challenges we have? Do they have the issue of where are you come from? Do they have the religious crisis that we have? Do they have the level of tribal differences in the states? Do they have such challenges? So, these are issues that should be put into consideration.
“Do they have the same political issues that we have, the same political problems; that you want to contest as president but because you’re not from the North, you cannot contest?
“Tell me one state in Nigeria today, where you have ‘A’ party in power and local government election is conducted and ‘B’ party wins all the seats. Why is it so? It’s not state police. Now what happens, when you have a Commissioner of Police appointed by the state governor?” he asked.
