There are strong indications that a bill for the creation of state police may resurface in the National Assembly soon as the controversy over the establishment of the Western Region Security Network code name Amotekun by the six southwest governors rages on.
Former deputy president of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, who had in the eight Senate proposed the bill but failed to get it passed through second reading, is poised to bring back the bill for reconsideration by his colleagues.
This was coming against the backdrop of recent signals from the Inspector General of Police Mohammed Adamu directing state commands to recruit constables for community police scheme being planned by the federal government.
Analysts are concerned about the timing of the recruitment as they see it as a major move to undercut the initiatives of Amotekun in the West.
Uche Anichukwu, media aides to Ekweremadu disclosed that the bill, sponsored by 74 senators, including the ex-deputy senate president was rejected by the 8th National Assembly, but circumstance prevailing now has made the reintroduction of the bill imperative.
“The Senator has been receiving calls from across the country on the need to reintroduce the State Police Bill.
“I think the security realities in the country now are very clear and even among his colleagues, the popular opinion is that the Bill should be reintroduced immediately.
“As a matter of fact, I just spoke with the Distinguished Senator this morning and he said plans were underway to reintroduce the Bill along with his colleagues. It is an idea which time has come,” he said.
It would be recalled that the governors of Lagos, Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Ondo, and Ekiti States in the new year launched a security outfit to secure the South Western States against banditry and kidnapping, which has become rampant in the area.
However, opposition against the creation of the outfit has hot up, first leaders of Fulani herdsmen and later the attorney general of the federation, Abubakar Malami, who had in a letter to the states declared the operations of Amotekun illegal.
State police and community policing are at the core of agitation for the restructuring of the country as some geopolitical regions believed that some parts of the country are using the advantage of controlling the central government to marginalise other regions.
