As State Police Debate Returns, Adebayo’s Four-Year-Old Position Resonates
As Nigeria moves closer to renewed constitutional conversations around the creation of state police, comments made about four years ago by former Social Democratic Party (SDP) presidential candidate, Prince Adewole Adebayo, are drawing fresh relevance.
In an interview conducted during the build-up to the 2023 presidential election, Adebayo strongly defended the creation of state and local government policing, arguing that Nigeria’s highly centralised security structure had become ineffective and disconnected from local realities.
According to him, any level of government empowered to make laws should also possess the authority to enforce them.
He argued that it was contradictory for states to legislate on issues including criminal offences, sanitation, public order and local administration while depending almost entirely on a centrally controlled police system headquartered in Abuja.
