By Yusuf Boluwatife
President Muhammadu Buhari has again kicked against the proposal of enforcing state policing, saying it is not an option for eradicating the rising spate of insecurity across the country.
Buhari made this known in an interview with Channels on Tuesday night where he referred to the faulty relationship between state governors and local government as a tangible reason in which state police may not be considered.
The president said, “State police is not an option. Find out the relationship between local government and the governors. Are the third tier of government getting what they are supposed to get constitutionally? Are they getting it? Let the people in local government tell you the truth, the fight between local governments and the Governors.”
Rather than adopting state police, Buhari suggested a bigger role for traditional rulers in bringing peace to communities stating that, the royal fathers know who is who in their localities.
“Let them go and ask the local leadership what has gone wrong, why the break in communication between the local leadership and the herders,” he said.
“The role of traditional rulers must not be undermined, because in their areas they know who is who, even by families, not to even talk of individuals.
“So, we have to revert to that system for us to have effective security in the localities,” Buhari added.
Meanwhile, some states have adopted regional security outfits, such as Amotekun and Ebube Agu but the constitution does not allow the governors to arm them with sophisticated weapons.
