State Police Only Antidote To Tackle Insecurity, Says Expert

With the rising level of insecurity in different parts of Nigeria in recent times, security experts have reiterated the call for creation of state police, insisting that it is the only antidote for tackling it.

A security consultant, Alfred Ononugbo made the call at Channels TV SunriseDaily talk show on Friday morning while commenting on the attack of INEC officials in Imo State by gunmen.

Ononugbo said the existing security system that is exclusively managed by the federal government has become overwhelmed by incessant attacks orchestrated by criminal elements in different parts of the country.

“The services of our security personnel have been overwhelmed, coupled with low resources. We should at this time begin to consider state police. States should be given responsibilities and some level of constitutional provisions to ensure that activities of criminals are effectively monitored,” Ononugbo stated.

Unknown gunmen on Thursday shot dead an INEC official identified as Nwokorie Anthony who together with few other staff of the commission were registering voters at Nkwo Ihitte (PU 004) in Amakohia Ward (RA 02) of Ihitte Uboma Local Government Area of Imo State.

Two other affected staff of the commission are reportedly missing.

The unfortunate incident led to suspension of Continuous Voter Registration exercise in the affected LGA as announced in a statement by the INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Barr. Festus Okoye on Thursday.

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Condemning the attack, Mr. Ononugbo said the people who went to obtain their voter cards to be able to exercise their civic rights during elections and those registering them did nothing wrong to deserve such brutal attack.

He noted that the attack was simply intended to put fear in the minds of people and discourage them from participating in the exercise, adding that such incident poses big threat to the 2023 elections.

He said the security operatives are poorly mobilized which affects their operations.

The security expert also observed that there is no strong cohesion between residents of local communities and the security agencies which heavily impedes intelligence gathering that could help in putting measures to forestall attacks and apprehend culprits.

“There seems to be a disconnect between the government and the people. It’s people that provide information to the agencies, they are not spirits, but depend on intelligence and relevant information passed across to them by people in communities to be able to work.”

He stressed the need for bridging the gap between the people and the government to give the people a sense of responsibility to be able to cooperate with security agencies in tackling security challenges in the country.

Speaking further on the urgent need for restructuring the security system in the country, Ononugbo said putting in a place a robust community policing structure will go a long way in curbing criminalities, especially in local communities.

He concluded that there is also need for aggressive national reorientation on importance of patriotism to give people a sense of belonging in the country and collectively participate in the project of nation building.