Governor Makinde urges federal government to be honest with citizens about establishing police forces at the state level.

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Gov Seyi Makinde of Oyo State

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Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, has urged the Federal Government to stop what he described as “deceiving Nigerians” over the proposed establishment of state police, insisting that the prolonged debate has become a waste of national time.

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Makinde made the remarks on Friday at a joint mega rally of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the APM in Ibadan, where he also revisited earlier efforts by South-West governors to establish a decentralised policing structure.

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“We wanted state police. It was because we couldn’t get the state police that we established Amotekun as a stop-gap,” the governor said.

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“They should stop wasting Nigerians’ time.”

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He recalled that South-West states had initially pushed for the creation of state police but later settled for the regional security outfit, Amotekun, in 2020 after the proposal failed to scale through at the federal level.

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Makinde argued that states do not need to wait for federal approval or police hierarchy before acting, citing how South-West governors coordinated their Houses of Assembly to legalise Amotekun across participating states.

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He, however, noted that Lagos State did not join the initiative, claiming the decision was influenced by opposition from President Bola Tinubu, who was a major political figure in the state at the time.

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“The only state that didn’t create Amotekun is Lagos State, and we know it is because their boss didn’t want Amotekun,” Makinde said.

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The governor maintained that if there was political will, state policing could be operational within a short period, adding that insecurity remained a major concern requiring urgent decentralised intervention.

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