*** Senators developing legal framework
The resurgence of violent killings in Plateau and Benue states in the last month has brought back to the front burner the vexed issue of state police.
The Senate, on resumption from recess next week, will put a framework to the idea, according to Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele.
The issue is also expected to be on the agenda of the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting this week.
NEC, chaired by the Vice President, is made up of governors and a few other federal officials.
At its December 12, 2024, meeting, it was announced that all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) had indicated readiness to embrace state police.
Against the expectations of Nigerians, however, NEC’s February meeting – its only one so far this year – did not discuss state police – at least not on the communiqué released to the media.
Also on Sunday, Serving Overseer of Citadel Global Community Church (formerly Latter Rain), Pastor Tunde Bakare, advocated the formation of zonal security councils and decentralisation of policing.
Two security experts also proffered community involvement and police independence as a panacea to the killings.
Former Senate President David Mark gave a range of suggestions to end the killings.
Bamidele called on security agencies to apprehend and prosecute those perpetrating killings, kidnappings and destruction of property in parts of the country.
He said: “The recent killings in Benue and Plateau states outright negated the virtues of peace and love that Jesus Christ taught.
“The recurrent utterances by some political and sectional figures also belied the values of courage, perseverance and tolerance He evidently lived for.
“No country develops as a result of one section rising up against another and vice versa.
“While the authority of the National Assembly is in the process of developing legal frameworks for the establishment of state police as one of the measures to address insecurity in the country, we urge security agencies to work together as a team to track and apprehend all the masterminds and sponsors of terror attacks nationwide.
“We appeal to some political actors who always latch onto the country’s challenges to push divisive narratives to learn from the example of Jesus Christ.
“Such actors are no longer playing opposition politics, but simply taking advantage of the country’s internal conditions in the pursuit of their own parochial political outcomes.
“Regardless of their ethnicity, politics and religion, all actors should shun all forms of divisive utterance and join forces against the common foes of Nigeria and not subvert our effort to build a strong and virile federation.”
Zonal security
Bakare, who expressed concern over the spate of killings, abductions and other crimes, called for the decentralisation of the policing system and the formation of zonal security councils.
In his state of the nation address in Lagos on Sunday, the cleric noted that the surge in security concerns, including the recent killing of hundreds of residents in Plateau and Benue states, required a new approach to tame.
He said: “We must then reinstate national security federalism by activating constitutional procedures for multilevel policing, including local, state, and zonal policing systems.
“Against this backdrop, we must redesign our security architecture by facilitating the formation of zonal security councils, chaired by a governor from the respective zone on a rotating basis.
“Such councils, which will be formed by state and local policing systems within respective zones, must be managed by nonpartisan security experts, while the Chairperson at each point in time will represent the zone at the National Security Council.
“These steps would be further boosted by adequately retooling our security infrastructure to meet the complex demands and by remodelling our security infrastructure to end interagency rivalry.
“We must also recreate our national security culture by mandating the kind of organisational culture change within the entire gamut of our law enforcement agencies that can win back the trust of the people.”
Stringent measures
Senator Mark called on the Federal Government to be more proactive in its efforts to tackle the menace of violent crimes, kidnapping and armed herdsmen.
He suggested that such violent and murderous groups should be declared terrorists and treated as such.
Mark bemoaned the unabating violent crimes, especially in the Northcentral states of Plateau and Benue.
A statement by his media aide, Paul Mumeh, in Abuja quoted Mark as saying: “We must not shy away from the truth. If they are not terrorists, why are they killing people? Why are they destroying communities? Why are they chasing people away from their ancestral homes?”
Decrying the unending activities of armed herders suspected to be behind killings and kidnappings, Mark said: “Their activities are unacceptable and should not only be condemned but be prohibited in their entirety as nobody has the right to take anybody’s life.”
On the attacks on several communities in Benue and Plateau states, the senator called on the Federal Government to proscribe open grazing in all parts of the country.
The former Senate President, whose home town in Benue State was under attack, called for a more inclusive approach to tackle insecurity in all ramifications.
Mark also called for the establishment of a well-equipped Border Security Forces (BSF) to halt the influx of criminals into Nigeria, pointing out that most of the suspected killer-herders “took advantage of the porosity of our borders by streaming into the country”.
