State police: Opposition Reps stage walkout over legislative procedure

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The House of Representatives was thrown into a rowdy session on Thursday during the consideration of the Constitution Alteration Bill seeking to establish state police, as opposition lawmakers staged a walkout in protest over what they described as a breach of parliamentary procedure.

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The protest followed the Speaker of the House, Tajudeen Abbas’ decision to put the bill to a voice vote without reading and considering each of its 26 clauses individually, despite attempts by members of the minority caucus to raise objections.

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The Minority Leader, Frederick Agbedi, repeatedly sought to raise a point of order during the proceedings but was not recognised by the Speaker.

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Rather than subject each clause of the bill to separate consideration and voting, Abbas called for a voice vote, asking members in support of the state police bill to say “aye” and those against it to say “nay.”

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After declaring that the “ayes” had prevailed, the Speaker’s ruling prompted members of the minority caucus to stage a walkout from the Green Chamber in protest.

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Defending his handling of the proceedings, Abbas said the constitutional threshold required for the amendment had already been met.

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“A total of 276 honourable members signed the attendance register in support of the police bill while 35 more voted online. This brings the number of lawmakers in support of the state police bill to 311.

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“What is required to pass a bill is two-thirds of our members, which is 240,” the Speaker said.

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Speaking with journalists shortly after the walkout, Agbedi insisted that the minority caucus was not opposed to the establishment of state police but objected to the manner in which the bill was considered.

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“Let it be stated that the minority caucus is not against state police. We are in support of anything that will bring about peace and security in Nigeria. All we are saying is that there should be a clause-by-clause consideration of the bill which the Speaker rejected,” he said.

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The bill is one of several constitutional amendment proposals before the National Assembly aimed at restructuring Nigeria’s policing architecture in response to worsening insecurity across the country.

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For years, governors, traditional rulers, security experts and civil society organisations have advocated the creation of state police, arguing that the current centralised policing system is overstretched and unable to effectively respond to local security challenges.

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Proponents contend that decentralising policing would enhance intelligence gathering, improve response times and strengthen community-based law enforcement.

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However, critics have expressed concerns that state police could be abused by state governors to intimidate political opponents, suppress dissent and interfere with electoral processes. They have consistently called for strong constitutional safeguards, operational independence and accountability mechanisms to prevent misuse.

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As a constitutional alteration bill, the proposal requires the support of at least two-thirds of members of both chambers of the National Assembly before it can proceed to the next stage of the amendment process, including approval by at least 24 state Houses of Assembly.

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