Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has commended the National Assembly on its decision to revisit the issue of state police in the ongoing constitution review to address insecurity in the country.
Abubakar, in a statement issued by his Media office on Thursday in Abuja, said that the lawmakers had by their action demonstrated courage in seizing the initiative to intervene in the country security crisis.
He recalled the massacres in Zamfara, Benue, Plateau, Taraba, Adamawa and Kaduna States and the murder of seven policemen in Abuja while on duty. Abubakar said decisive action was needed to address the current security challenges.
He said that given the seeming despair and helplessness of the citizens, NASS had responsibility to give legal teeth to the creation of state police and community policing due to frequent deadly attacks.
“A peculiar crisis demands a decisive action, and I am one hundred percent behind the National Assembly in its efforts to strengthen the hands of state governments in providing security to their citizens.”
He said that leaving the citizens to their fate was not an option.
He added that once a democratic government seemed overwhelmed or paralysed by security challenges, the initiative by the National Assembly should be welcomed by all Nigerians.
Abubakar also said that security strategies should be periodically reviewed because the criminals involved were also studying the weaknesses and strengths of the security system.
The former vice president said that the states should always be ahead of the criminals or should be able to develop strategies that could neutralise them before they could strike.
Abubakar called on Nigerians to support the National Assembly and State Houses of Assembly in the bold decision to amend the constitution to create state police and community policing.
He extended his condolences to the families and colleagues of the seven policemen killed in Abuja in the line of duty on Tuesday.
“Nigeria must show, by words and action, that the lives of our armed forces and the police and indeed, of any Nigerian matter to us. Even one loss of life is a loss too many.”
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Senate, on Tuesday, said it would revisit calls for state police and design framework for mopping up 350 million light weapons suspected to be in circulation in Nigeria.
The President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, disclosed this while welcoming senators to plenary after a three-week Eid-el-Fitr recess.
