Galadima: State Police Won't Fix Nigeria's Insecurity

Buba Galadima, a leader in the Nigeria Democratic Congress, believes that creating state police will not solve Nigeria's insecurity problems. He warned that it could be misused by politicians to silence their opponents.

Galadima spoke during an interview on the ARISE News Morning Show on Tuesday. He reacted to the State Police Bill, which was recently passed by the National Assembly and is now with the 36 state Houses of Assembly for approval.

He questioned whether state police would be effective, saying Nigeria's security issues cannot be fixed just by adding another layer of police. "If the Nigerian Police, if the Nigerian Military cannot solve security situations in Nigeria, I wonder how the state police would be able to do that," he said.

Galadima claimed that the push for state police is driven by political interests. He believes elected officials might use state police in the upcoming 2027 elections to intimidate opponents and disrupt the democratic process. "All that we know is that the president and the governors are looking for state police before the elections so that they use them as political thugs to attack the opposition, disrupt the election and kill democracy," he said.

He shared his experiences from the time of the Native Authority Police, claiming it was used to harass political opponents. Galadima said, "I was adult enough to see what had happened during the Native Authority Police. When elections approached, three months to the election, the Native Authority Police would gather all the opposition elements in their territorial jurisdiction and lock them up."

He explained that some people were locked up for minor offenses, like saying something disrespectful about a local leader or for wearing shoes when a village head was seated. "Some of them, they would just say, ‘Oh, you have abused the Emir,’ or ‘You have abused the chief,’ or ‘You have abused the judge,’ or that you were wearing shoes when your village head was seated on a chair. Then they would clamp all of them into detention," he said.

Galadima noted that the misuse of the Native Authority Police led many to leave parts of Northern Nigeria. He warned that state police could worsen ethnic and religious tensions if certain groups dominate recruitment in different states.

"The state police could be used to even destroy the unity of this country because if there are certain states where only one tribe or only one religion will constitute the state police, people from other parts of the country will have no liberty to live and do their businesses as guaranteed by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria," he said.

He concluded that the proposed state police would create more problems than it would solve. "For me, it will create more problems, more division and more suspicion."

The National Assembly recently passed the State Police Bill as part of the constitutional amendment process. This proposal needs at least 24 out of the 36 state Houses of Assembly to approve it before moving forward.