The Peoples Democratic Party Governors’ Forum (PDP-GF) on Wednesday called on President Muhammadu Buhari to convene a consultative meeting of Nigeria Police Council (NPC) to appoint a new Inspector-General of Police.
The forum said the appointment of the new police boss could be in acting or permanent capacity as envisaged under the 1999 Constitution.
The PDP-GF disclosed this in a communique after its virtual meeting held recently where they x-rayed the state of the nation, particularly the various challenges facing the country in respect to security, economy and other matters of national importance.
Chairman of the PDP-GF and Governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal said the forum strongly recommends the decentralisation of the Nigeria Police Force and imperative of introducing state police in Nigeria, as one of the solutions to stem the tide of insecurity ravaging the country.
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Tambuwal observed that the Nigeria Police Force, as an institution remains a common service agency for all tiers of government in Nigeria, saying it was the reason the Nigeria Police Council was made up of President as Chairman, 36 State Governors, Chairman of Police Service Commission and Inspector General of Police as members.
He noted that the council was the constitutionally designated forum for discussion of security matters in the country, particularly concerning policing.
The governor stressed that it was worthy of note that the newly introduced community policing infrastructure was already being implemented more in breach, adding that the current Nigeria Police Act envisaged that community policing should serve as a decentralised measure of grassroots policing and various roles were assigned to various parties, including the governors of the states.
Tambuwal noted that in the constitution and operationalisation of the community policing activities in the various states so far, partisanship had taken over the recruitment process to the extent that they no longer have faith in the neutrality and capacity of the Community Policing system to serve the purposes envisaged under the new Police Act.
He also revealed that the meeting further deliberated on the Electoral Act Amendment Bill pending before the National Assembly and urged the lawmakers to expedite action in the passage of the bill, saying other needed to avoid the pitfalls that befell the amendment process in the 8th National Assembly where Mr President vetoed the bill on the ground that the amendment came too late in the day.
The Sokoto state governor said the PDP-GF congratulated Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala on her appointment as Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and requested her to use her new office to facilitate trade and investment between Nigeria and other countries.
He said the forum congratulated the newly appointed Service Chiefs and recommended the complete overhauling of the national security architecture.
In attendance include Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State; Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State; Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State; Duoye Diri of Bayelsa State and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State.
Others are Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, Darius Dickson Ishaku of Taraba State and Benson Abounu, the deputy governor of Benue State.
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