Kano State governor, Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso, has advocated the creation of state police in the country, saying the existing police force has veered from serving Nigerians to protecting the interest of occupants of the Presidential Villa.
Kwankwaso, who had hitherto opposed the creation of state police, lamented that what, happened last week, when the police walked in and asked five out of the G-7 Governors to disperse from a justifiable meeting at his lodge in Abuja, demonstrated the inclination and ineptitude of the nation’s police.
Receiving the Senate Committee on Police affairs, led by its chairman, Chief Igwe Paulinus Nwagu, who visited him in Kano, the governor described the police disruption of the meeting as upsetting and an insult on the people who voted them into power.
“I am not advising the police to pitch their tent with any side. They should be seen as neutral. The police and other security agencies must not be used by anybody to intimidate others or perpetuate injustice,” governor Kwankwaso said.
Lamenting that the Nigerian police is recklessly being involved in national politics, the governor warned that such action will not augur well for national unity and will continue to erode the integrity of the institution.
He maintained that even though the Federal Government is taking largest share of the total national revenue at the moment, state governments are the major financiers of the police in their respective states.