‘Governors Will use Their Thugs’, Shehu Sani rejects State Police

Comrade Shehu Sani, a former Senator, has opposed the proposed state police to curtail insecurity, describing it is a recipe for anarchy.

At an emergency meeting in Abuja on Thursday, President Bola Tinubu and the governors discussed the possibility of state police to tackle some challenges confronting the nation.

But the former senator kicked against it, saying governors have the tendencies to recruit their party thugs into the state police and use it to persecute opposition members.

Sani said this in a series of tweets on his X account on Monday.

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Sani said, “The State Police will be used by the governors to persecute the opposition, to harass ‘non indigenes’, to rig elections and to counter the federal police in case of conflict of interest between the federal government and the state. Most of the state ruling party thugs will be recruited into the state police.”

The ex-federal lawmaker said there is no magic that the state police would perform that the military, police and civil defence have not done.

He added, “The idea that the State Police will solve all the security problems in the country is a mirage. What magic can the state police perform that the military, police and civil defence couldn’t? The State police will simply be an armed wing of the ruling party of each state. It’s a recipe for anarchy.”

Last week, the Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC) supported the proposed state police amid prevalent insecurity in the country.

RULAAC said the state governors have funded the largest percentage of operations of the police over the years.

It said the federal government merely sees it as a mere contribution, hence the need for states to police their territories.