Insecurity, in its different frightening guises, continues to dominate the headlines and the national discourse agenda. Only last week, banditry and kidnapping returned with a bang to the front burner in the South-West region with the abduction, mercifully for a few days, of eminent Political Science Professor, Adigun Agbaje, on the outskirts of Ibadan, and several passengers on the Abeokuta-Lagos Road. Elsewhere in the country, particularly in Niger State, all hell was let loose as terrorists waxed the ever dangling axe of violent kidnapping and a spree of murderous disorder. Despite the offensive of law enforcement, presumably with a view to securing the country for the 2023 elections, total victory remains somewhat elusive.
Given this tumultuous background, the recent bashing of state governors by former Bauchi State Governor, Isa Yuguda, from whom the opening quote is sourced, deserves more than casual inspection. For instance, while governors in the northern states at a recent meeting called for the introduction of state police, Yuguda blamed the governors as well as exonerated the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari , and the Federal Government.
This point is not raised to say that sub-national authorities, including local governments, do not have a vital role to play when it comes to fighting banditry and terrorism.
It is like saying no matter how desperately besieged you are, you must not do anything to defend yourselves, which is similar to tying the hands of people behind their backs while their territories, property and families are being ravaged. Curiously, those opposed to state police are rehearsing the fears of its misuse during the First Republic, rather than discerning it as a vehicle for possible emancipation in the face of emasculation of over-centralised law enforcement.
Yuguda’s option is focused on a feeding bottle federalism, which requires the governors to secure their states and then go to the President to solicit funds to carry out governance assignments. In other words, what ought to have been a constitutional issue is reduced to a random and personalised task whose implementation is contingent on good relations with Buhari. That is not all.
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