Warning from State Police: A Word of Caution by Hakeem Baba-Ahmed

“Even the clever one is advised.” – African proverb

The tempo behind the campaign for State Police as a solution to pervasive and prolonged failure by the Nigerian state to secure the citizen, uphold the law and ensure social order appears to have spiked at a rate and speed which should advise caution. The nation stirred when President Bola Tinubu recently made public his desire for, and willingness to support the establishment of State Police.

He did not own the patent for it, but he stamped the highest level of endorsement behind an issue that his administration was at best lukewarm, and at worst hostile towards. In spite of virtual endorsement by all State Governors for an additional policing outfit under their control, meetings after meetings of National State Council, a constitutional advisory body failed to pass a resolution specifically recommending it for implementation.

Under the current distribution of the power to affect Nigeria in all its ramifications and dispositions, an expression of support behind even the most complex and challenging issue by President Tinubu should be considered a done deal. Predictably, his cheerleader legislature has already committed to supporting the emergence of state policing outfits before end of 2026. His brand new Inspector-General of Police has set up a Steering (sic) Committee to develop a framework for the establishment of a state police even before the constitutional requirement for allowing the emergence of state policing instruments is triggered. Perhaps the thinking now is that Nigeria Police which had led the resistance for creating state policing outfits has now completed a 360-degree turnaround, and it is doing the heavy lifting in terms of how the country will have 37 or 38 police outfits before President Tinubu submits himself to the electorate in 2027.

With the required numbers to affect any constitutional amendment in Nigeria as we speak, nothing will stop President Tinubu if he decides to introduce state policing outfits. He has the numbers in both chambers of the federal legislature. His party has 30 State Governors ( and counting). They in turn have all their legislators entirely in tow. Indeed, if President Tinubu wants to amend the Nigerian Constitution to provide for a three-term president, he has the constitutional requirements to do it. More important: he has virtual control over 90 per cent of all political office holders, such that neither legality nor propriety will allow dissent in his ranks. So President Tinubu has the numbers and the interest in creating sub-national policing structures, and there appears no one able to stop him. Certainly not the law. Nor poverty of power. Nor sentiments derived from values and history which caution that having the power to do something is not sufficient reason to do it. Nor evidence that doing what you want to do is not necessarily in your best interest.

In the event that some Nigerians are right in thinking that President Tinubu desires a place in history which will speak well of his legacies, it may be useful to pass on a few lessons on the limitations of power and its management so that those close to him may whisper some in his ears. First, it is important to understand that policing is fundamentally a political and governance responsibility and a powerful tool in the hands of leaders. There is no such thing as neutral police. Police is part and product of the political process, at the heart of which are sensitive matters of control of conduct and designing the parameters of laws and order dictated by those who exercise power. Men and women who wear uniforms and bear arms are not police. Policing is the philosophy behind what they do, how they do it, and how they fit into governance processes.

Colonialism created a policing instrument of control, maintaining order and enforcing laws of the colonizer. Matters of effectiveness and values reflected those of the colonialist: order, stability and superiority of the colonial state in all matters. As Nigeria decolonized, policing reflected the key characters of the decolonizing elite: preservation of the order and values bequeathed by the colonizer and utilization of basic governance structures to acquire and retain power. The military subsequently subordinated policing entirely under the imperatives of control, depriving it of all autonomy. The police began to reflect the character of the military, especially limited obligations to account and loyalty only to a hierarchy of power. The military created federating states which weakened political elite national cohesion, but preserved a single policing agency in order to protect the imperatives of control. Between an expanding state structure growing fat on corruption and state capture, and massive pillage of some of the core responsibilities of the old Nigeria Police Force to create other policing agencies ( most of which did no better than the old, mainstream police), the old police was limited to going through the motions of protecting the laws of the land and preserving an order which existed only on paper.

This is the police that has been abused to its current state by a leadership that had no respect for professionalism and integrity. This is our police today, demoralized, compromised, and reduced to poster boys of corruption. Honest citizens fear them. Criminals hug them. Our police, out-gunned by sundry armed groups, has retreated behind civilians, leaving a weakening military to do its work while it provides cover for politicians needing cover from citizens and criminals. This is the police that perfectly mirrors us: corrupt, scared and ready to blame a dozen reasons for our weaknesses except the real ones. This is the police some of us want to make poorer versions of at state levels. Armed, politicized and proud ethnic militias and errand boys of politicians who cannot pick professionalism if you drop it on the ground.

There is a solution to the limitations of our police. Make it more professional, raise its morale, give it a good political leadership it can respect and emulate, and allow it to exist as a proud contributor to the concept and practice of democratic governance. Rebuild our military so that it can do its job well and let the police do its own better. President Tinubu’s huge appetite for raw power will not allow him to do this. On the contrary, state police will only reinforce his penchant for total power and control. Governors will ape him and obliterate any distinction between police and armed political thugs. Creating state police in the next few months will not give us a more secure nation, but one more threatened by deepening ethno-religious faultlines. It will arm more citizens to kill other citizens they will profile as the enemy, in a country bursting at the seams with enemies. It will add a huge burden to a frightening cost of governance and reduce resources we desperately need to mitigate the real causes of insecurity in the country. It will make the 2027 elections a very dangerous affair, as militias fight political battles to snatch mandates.

It may be futile asking President Tinubu to drop this idea altogether, or wait until the 2027 election provides Nigerians with an opportunity to have a say on his stewardship, but he should be advised by those who love the country more than him that the second term he seeks may not be delivered only by wealthy politicians and rag-tag militia.