Middle Belt Forum carpets Buhari for rejecting state police

The Middle Belt Forum, MBF, on Thursday, carpeted President Muhammadu Buhari for rejecting the call for state police by Nigerians.

The president had turned down the request during his interview with Channels TV on Wednesday, saying it was not an option to consider,

Reacting to this, the National President of MBF, Dr Bitrus Pogu, said Nigeria needs to consider the practice of true federalism to survive.

 According to him, “It is unfortunate that President Muhammadu Buhari would say that State Police is not an option. He can only delay legitimate agitations of the people but cannot stop it.”

He cautioned that the Federal Government should stop imposing on the federating units its authority using federal police and federal institutions.

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Pogu stated that if Nigeria must continue as a federation, then it has to operate as a federation and that all President Buhari can do is to delay the process, but there is no way such processes will not come to fruition because one of the aspects of true federalism is partial autonomy on some issues like policing and others by the federating units.

He explained that the Governor is the Chief Security Officer of the state and should have authority in his state, saying that no federal institution should impose anything on the Governor.

 “As far as Nigerians are concerned, they would always insist on state police and believed it is going to happen whether Buhari accepts it now or not, it will come, adding that true federalism, restructuring must happen in Nigeria for the country to move forward.”

“Our country cannot just be run like a militarized state in a democracy,” he maintained.