Nigeria not mature for state police yet, says Ogun monarch
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The Eselu of Iselu, in Yewa North, Ogun State, Oba Akintunde Akinyemi, has urged President Bola Tinubu to, as a matter of urgency, engage those agitating for the creation of Yoruba nation in a peace talk, in order to foster lasting peace and prevent the agitation from further escalating.
The monarch also advised President Tinubu to temper justice with mercy with agitators, “as handling them fiercely could further fuel the agitation.”
He gave the advice during his birthday ceremony which hosted about 146 traditional rulers across the state, in Abeokuta, the Ogun state capital, on Saturday.
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Oba Akintunde also supported the belief that Nigeria is not ripe for state police, stating that the country needs to mature its democracy before considering the state policing system.
The monarch notes that the country is currently in dire need of genuine democracy, and not state police as being clamoured for by Nigerians.
His words “On the Yoruba nation agitators, I want the president to Imbibe the rule of engagement where he will call everybody to a round table, we don’t have to use machine guns, these people are our people, they are our subject, the President should call all of them together, we work in modalities, we will tell them our manifestos and they will understand that president Tinubu means good for the country and south west in particular.
The Monarch equally urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to consider adequate financing and insurance for existing police before decentralizing the policing system.
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His words “I agree that Nigeria is not ripe for state police because when you see it in the US, you will know that policing has to do with transparency, equity, accountability and zero corruption but in Nigeria today if you are an APC and the governor is PDP, police will act to the instruction of the governor and will be victimizing those in the opposition party.
“I think we still need to practice democracy more even before we talk about state police. Let us talk about stable electricity because this is a computer age, nobody goes around and starts stopping vehicles to detect criminals.
“In order word, the president should look into giving adequate financing and insurance to the existing police before decentralising it to the state.
