By Praise Chinecherem
Human Rights and Pro-democracy groups have rejected plans by Federal and State Governments to set up State Police to tackle the growing insecurity across the country.
The Campaign for Democracy (CD) in South East and Human Rights, Liberty Access and Peace Defenders Foundation (HURIDE) rising from their combined strategic meeting in Enugu, said the idea would amount to creating a “private militia for governors”
In the communique signed by High Chief Dede Uzor A Uzor, Executive Director, HURIDE and Chairman, CD, in the South East, the rights groups said they vehemently disagree with the setting up of State Police because Nigeria is not ripe for it.
They added that Governors would use State Police against their “perceived Political enemies”.
The communique reads in part, “What the Governors currently do with the ordinary touts they have recruited, oppressing, manhandling, maiming and in extreme cases killing their perceived Political opponents and the ordinary man on the street, showed that our Governors don’t have the temperament to control state Police.
“Same way they hold down Local Governments under their feet, using their allocations the way they want, they will manipulate the State Police in the same way they like.
“Most Governors refused to conduct Local Government elections. Those who conducted just did it for a formality. Nothing is working. They are still controlling the resources of their Local Governments.
“They just fix their cronies there and utilise the money for themselves not for the public.
“If they deploy private militia now in a negative way, what of when the constitution is amended to give them some degree of powers to control State Police?
“If the State Police becomes imperative to help curb insecurity, it should be tailored in a manner they will still take orders from Abuja. After all, some of these insecurities in various parts of the country were created by Governors because of their political ambitions.”
While accusing governors of creating major problems in the country as a result of their excessive fraudulent disposition and high-handedness, Dede Uzor challenged them to openly mention the amount of their huge security votes which run in billions of naira illegally and forcefully collected every month from federal allocation.
According to him, most Governors outrightly siphon their State Internally Generated Revenues (IGR), querying what the Governors have been doing with significantly improved revenue allocation due to the removal of subsidies on fuel in recent times.
“If they couldn’t manage these things, is it potentially volatile State Police they could manage?” Dede Uzor queried.
