HURIWA Proposes Elected Commission For State Police Oversight

The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has backed the concerns raised by Hon. Yusuf Gagdi, Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Navy, over the likelihood of state governors abusing control of proposed state police forces.

The rights group, however, insisted that the creation of state police is long overdue to combat Nigeria’s worsening insecurity.

In a statement issued on Wednesday and signed by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, HURIWA said the solution lies in creating an independent State Police Service Commission to oversee state policing structures rather than placing them directly under governors’ control.

“The time is overdue for the establishment of state police in Nigeria to confront the unprecedented insecurity,” the statement read.

“But the overall command and control shouldn’t be domiciled with state governors. It should be vested in members of an independent State Police Service Commission which ought to be created to improve accountability of the state policing institution.”

HURIWA proposed that members of the Commission be elected independently during general elections, under the supervision of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and not as members of any political party.

“The autonomous State Police Service Commission should be a body of reputable persons— not more than seven in each state—constituted from the people of the state with a single four-year tenure,” the statement continued.

“They cannot be removed unless any of such a person is found guilty of a serious crime of fraud or declared bankrupt by a competent court of law.”

The association was responding to remarks made by Hon. Gagdi, who represents Pankshin/Kanke/Kanam Federal Constituency of Plateau State. During a visit to some attacked and displaced communities in Kanam Local Government Area on Sunday, the lawmaker restated his opposition to the establishment of state police.

“I have never been in support of the calls by Governor Mutfwang and other governors for the establishment of state police,” Gagdi said.

“They will be used against perceived political opponents. Governors cannot be trusted with the control of policing in their states.”

He further emphasized his stance on Channels TV on Tuesday, warning that the governors’ push for state policing was a dangerous move.

HURIWA acknowledged the validity of Gagdi’s fears but stressed that rejecting state police altogether would be a grave mistake.

“Discarding the idea of state police for fear that governors will misuse the operatives against political rivals is like throwing the bathwater together with the baby,” Onwubiko argued.

“We accept that governors are often dictatorial and may use the state police against political opponents, just as successive presidents have used the centralised national police to target rivals.

“But if the Police Service Commission at the centre had been made to function independently, the excesses and misconduct of the police would have been drastically controlled.”

The rights group urged the National Assembly’s constitution amendment committee to build strong checks and balances into any state police arrangement.

“We think that by this way, the groundswell of fears being expressed by opponents of state police would have been taken care of,” HURIWA added.

“The state governors should be convinced not to oppose the checks and balances to be inserted in the constitution. What should be of utmost priority is to safeguard the nation’s security, because the primary legal duty of the government is to protect the lives and property of citizens.”