State Police will hurt our democracy – ex-DG VON

The former Director-General of Voice of Nigeria (VON), Mr. Osita Okechukwu, has stated that state police would hurt the nation’s nascent democracy.

Okechukwu, a foundation member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), disclosed this on Saturday in Eke, shortly after the burial of the late Chief Bona Udeh, erstwhile Chairman of Udi Local Government Area in Enugu State.

The APC chieftain said that his lack of support for the establishment of the state police was due to his elementary study of the antics of dictatorship.

He stated that the study made him shiver each time he thought of what would happen to democracy if governors, who had since the inception of the fourth republic in 1999 acted like emperors, were empowered absolutely to kill democracy.

“What salvation do we earn when careful consideration shows that the majority of our dear governors are more or less akin to emperors, who are constantly in breach of fine democratic tenets and civil liberties?” he asked.

The APC chieftain also said the governors had thwarted the local councils since the system had blatantly mangled the state judiciary and state legislatures into rubber stamps.

“My dear countrymen, do we, in all intents and purposes, make altruistic sense to further empower emperors?

Emperors hated alternative views and abhorred popular participation and the rule of law throughout the history of man.

“Our dear governors, in a similar manner, abhorred the rule of law and popular participation; this is why they, in the same bipartisan manner, opposed local government autonomy, independence of the state judiciary, and state legislatures,” he said.

Proffering a security solution, Okechukwu said that, as a matter of urgent national importance, at this trying period, the country needed well-trained and well-equipped Special Constabulary Police in line with the Nigeria Police Act 2020.

The APC chieftain said the Special Constabulary Police should be equipped with a sophisticated arsenal to contain kidnappers, terrorists, and insurgents at the grassroots without authoritarian antics.

He said the Special Constabulary Police he was advocating would be funded by the federal and state governments, jointly recruited from indigenes of the given state in collaboration with the governors, albeit local communities, based on “tiny federal strings” for necessary moderation.

“I appeal for understanding for the Special Constabulary Police, as the federal and state governments will better fund the outfit rather than authorising state governors to transfer the burden of funding to our citizenry, the majority of whom are trapped in multidimensional poverty.

He said that although one understood the metastasis of grief, helplessness, despair, despondency, and the sordid scenario of a country overwhelmed by insecurity, it would be less strategic in the midst of confusion to overtax the citizenry.

The Director-General of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Mr. Asishana Okauru, reported that 16 state governors had earlier supported the establishment of the State Police.

They supported the floundering of the outfit as a panacea for the insecurity ravaging the different parts of the country.

Also, the Senior Special Assistant to the Vice President on Media and Communication, Mr. Stanley Nwakocha, had earlier disclosed in a statement that discussions were held at the 140th meeting of the National Economic Council on the matter.

Nwakocha noted that 16 out of the 36 states had already submitted reports on the State Policing initiative and that the remaining 20 governors were already in the process of submitting theirs

“The official position of the forum is in favour of state police. I don’t know of any state that is not in support of state police,” he said.