The National Assembly is not alone on the decision to amend the constitution to establish State Police in response to the intractable killings by Fulani herdsmen across the Nigeria and the inability of the federal government to end the killings.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has engrossed the establishment of State Police and commended the National Assembly for the resolution to amend the constitution for t5he establishment of State Police and empowering governors as Chief Security Officers of their respective states.
Atiku remarked that state police is required to deal with the current deteriorating state of insecurity characterized by persistent loses of lives of innocent Nigerians at the hands of armed groups.
He acknowledged that National Assembly members have by their action, demonstrated courage in seizing the initiative to intervene in the country’s security crisis.
The former vice president decried the massacres in Zamfara, Benue, Plateau, Taraba, Adamawa and Kaduna States and the murder of seven policemen in Abuja while on active duty, saying that decisive action is needed to address the current security challenges.
“A peculiar crisis demands a decisive action, and I am one hundred percent behind the National Assembly in their efforts to strengthen the hands of state governments in providing security to their citizens”, Atiku said.
He said that leaving the citizens to their fate is not an option, adding that once a democratic government seems overwhelmed or paralyzed by security challenges, the initiative by the National Assembly should be welcomed by all Nigerians.
Atiku also said that security strategies should be periodically reviewed because the criminals involved are also studying the weaknesses and strengths of our security system.
According to him, the state should always be ahead of the criminals or should be able to develop strategies that can neutralise them before they even strike.
Atiku called on Nigerians to support the National Assembly and State Houses of Assembly in this bold decision to amend the constitution to create state police and community policing.
He extended his condolences to the families and colleagues of the seven policemen killed in the nation’s capital in the line of duty.
“Nigeria must show, by words and action, that the lives of our armed forces and the police and indeed of any Nigerian matter to us. Even one loss of life is a loss too many”.