State policing without safeguards will decentralise tyranny — Oshiomhole

Senator Adams Oshiomhole has warned that establishing state police without fiscal autonomy, institutional maturity and independent oversight would merely “decentralise tyranny” rather than solve Nigeria’s worsening insecurity.

Oshiomhole, who represents Edo North and is a former governor of Edo State and former President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), stated this during a panel discussion on state policing, where he argued that the debate should be driven by practical realities instead of emotions.

Oshiomhole said, “We must stop discussing complex national security issues with emotional romanticism. We must look at the hard, cold facts on the ground.”

The senator questioned the financial capacity of many states to establish and sustain modern police forces, noting that several state governments were already struggling to meet salary obligations.

He said policing involved far more than purchasing patrol vehicles, stressing that it required sustained investment in personnel training, intelligence gathering, insurance, pensions and sophisticated equipment.

“The most fundamental rule of security is this: a hungry man with a gun is not a security officer; he is a security risk,” Oshiomhole said.

He warned that failure to pay state police personnel regularly could create fresh security threats, arguing that governments unable to meet their wage obligations should not be entrusted with heavily armed security outfits.

Drawing from his experience as a former governor, Oshiomhole also expressed concerns that state police could be manipulated for political purposes if placed under governors without robust constitutional safeguards.

He cited the conduct of State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs), which he said often produced outcomes overwhelmingly favouring ruling parties, as evidence of the need for caution.

“If a sitting governor cannot allow a free and fair election at the local government level, how can anyone convince me that during a general election, that same governor will not deploy the State Police to lock up opposition candidates, intimidate journalists, and teargas peaceful protesters?” he asked.

Although he commended Governor Dauda Lawal of Zamfara State for operating the Community Protection Guards without reported abuse, Oshiomhole stressed that laws should be designed to prevent misuse by future office holders rather than rely on the integrity of individuals.

“Laws are not written for good men; laws are written to protect society from bad men,” he said.

Rather than creating separate state police forces immediately, Oshiomhole advocated strengthening the existing Nigeria Police Force through increased funding, improved training and greater operational autonomy for state commissioners of police.

He also called for expanding community policing to improve intelligence gathering while retaining a unified national policing structure.

“If we rush into state policing without fiscal autonomy, institutional maturity, and completely independent oversight bodies outside the control of governors, we are not solving insecurity; we are simply decentralising tyranny,” he said.