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By Victor Osula, Abuja
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) and Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, have expressed concern over the passage of the proposed State Police Bill by the Nigerian Senate, warning that the reform could be vulnerable to political abuse if implemented without adequate safeguards and wider stakeholder consultation.
While reaffirming their long-standing support for decentralized policing, the ADC and former governor of Anambra State maintained that the current framework for the establishment of the state police is rushed and lacks the necessary institutional safeguards to ensure accountability and public trust.
In a statement issued by his National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, on Friday, the ADC accused the Tinubu administration of treating far-reaching constitutional reform as an emergency response to worsening insecurity in the country.
“The African Democratic Congress (ADC) supports the state police. We have always believed that Nigeria’s policing architecture must evolve to reflect the realities of our federal system. But support for the state police cannot be confused with support for the Tinubu administration’s handling of this important national reform,” Abdullahi said.
According to the party, the state police reform is too significant to be hastily approved by the National Assembly without broad public involvement.
“What we are witnessing is a hasty response to a worsening security crisis, not the careful institutional planning needed to build a functional, accountable and effective policing system. The state police is too important, and the security of Nigerians too urgent, to be reduced to a quick legislative fix or brought to the National Assembly without the broad consultation that such far-reaching reform requires,” the statement read.
The ADC argued that decentralized policing is not a new concept, stressing that it has been part of Nigeria’s constitutional debate for decades and enjoys broad national consensus.
“It is equally important to state that there is nothing new in the idea of state policing. Decentralized policing has been part of Nigeria’s constitutional and political debate for decades and today enjoys broad national support. What is new is the Tinubu administration’s attempt to package this long-standing national consensus as a bold new initiative and, worse still, present it as a silver bullet to the country’s current security crisis. It is neither,” Abdullahi added.
The opposition party also questioned why the federal government moved to pursue the constitutional amendment only at this stage of the administration if it has always considered the state police a priority.
He warned that legislation alone would not improve safety, noting that creating an effective state police system would require recruitment, training, funding, operational structures and independent oversight, all of which cannot be achieved overnight.
The party also expressed concern about the absence of constitutional guarantees to prevent the state police from becoming an instrument of political intimidation.
“What safeguards will prevent state police from becoming instruments of political intimidation? What safeguards exist for truly independent state legislative and judicial bodies capable of exercising meaningful oversight? Who will regulate recruitment, employment, discipline and funding? Where are the accompanying reforms to prosecutorial, correctional services, forensic capacity and intelligence coordination? These are not minor issues. They constitute the difference between creating a professional police service and creating another institution that might be vulnerable to abuse,” he noted.
The ADC insisted that the state police should complement, not replace, ongoing reforms of the Nigeria Police Force, advocating for a multi-tiered policing system comprising federal, state and community policing, underpinned by independent oversight and broader justice sector reforms.
Echoing similar concerns, Peter Obi described the passage of the State Police Bill by the National Assembly as a significant milestone in addressing Nigeria’s security challenges, but urged that its implementation be suspended until after the 2027 general elections.
In a statement posted on his Facebook page on Friday, Obi argued that while Nigeria’s centralized police system has struggled to address insecurity in different regions of the country, the implementation framework for the state police remains weak and open to abuse.
He criticized the legislative process that led to the bill’s passage, saying that a constitutional amendment of such national importance should have been subjected to broader public hearings and stakeholder consultations.
“The rush to promulgate the law without adequate legislative procedures fuels the suspicion of many observers regarding the political motivations behind it,” Obi observed.
The former Anambra governor warned that the state police could be placed under the effective control of governors and used to intimidate opposition figures, suppress political activities and influence election results, stressing that Nigeria’s political history makes such concerns legitimate.
To guard against abuse, Obi has proposed the establishment of an independent state police service commission, insulated from executive interference before the law takes effect.
He also questioned whether the current administration could resist the use of state policing structures to influence the 2027 general elections, arguing that postponing the implementation until after the polls would reassure Nigerians of the government’s commitment to a credible and impartial reform process.
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