TONY JOHN, Port Harcourt
Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, has advocated an amendment of the laws establishing the Nigeria Police Force to tackle current security challenges facing the country.
Governor Wike made the call while speaking on some national issues on a live television programme in Port Harcourt, yesterday. He stated that such critical look at the enabling laws should be the starting point in achieving an enduring total reform of the police. Wike said: “We are in a federal system. Issues cannot be addressed by the Federal Government giving directives to state governors.
“There is need for all stakeholders to look at the various laws establishing the police to determine the roles of councils, states and the federal government. We are at a point in our history that collective involvement is important. This is so because the nature of crime fighting today does not support a central command and control. We need to embrace the reality. Once the areas requiring amendment have been agreed, the National Assembly can now be involved.” The governor said the federal government was trivialising the demands by #EndSARS protesters by directing state governors to take charge of tactical commands of the police.
“State governors cannot take charge of tactical commands because they cannot employ or discipline anyone who errs. In Rivers State, we set up a Judicial Commission of Inquiry that indicted SARS officers. Instead of the police authorities punishing the indicted officers, they shielded them and even promoted one to the rank of an Assistant Inspector General.
“Now the federal government wants us to set up another commission of inquiry when the report of the last one we set up was not implemented.” Governor Wike stated that he acted on intelligence to ensure that #miscreants did not hijack EndSARS protest in Port Harcourt.
He said if he did not support it, he would not have addressed the protesters who were demanding a change in the way the federal government conducts the affairs of the country.