The Lagos State House of Assembly has rejected the position maintained by the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Olukayode Egbetokun that Nigeria is not ripe for the establishment of State Police.

Speaker of the House, Mudashiru Obasa, directed the Clerk of the House Olalekan Onafeko, to write the Inspector-General and the National Assembly stating that the State lawmakers reject Egbetokun’s position.

The IGP, represented at a recently held one-day dialogue on state policing, themed, ‘Pathways to Peace: Reimagining Policing in Nigeria,’ opposed the establishment of state police, arguing that it would increase ethnic tension and cause divided loyalty in states of the federation.

The IGP also suggested that the Federal Road Safety Corps and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps be merged with the police force.

However, speaking at plenary on Monday, Obasa, who noted that the FRSC and the NSCDC have not been able to solve the problems of accidents on roads and pipeline vandalism respectively, wondered how effective they would be if they are merged with the police force.

“In Lagos State, we have the Security Trust Fund through which successive administrations starting from that of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu have provided enormous support to the police command in Lagos State. Yet, crime of different dimensions has continued.

“This shows that no matter what Egbetokun has proffered as solution, such won’t solve our problem. The position of the IGP is unacceptable.

“We strongly believe that if we have State Police, we would be able to solve the issues of crime in our nation or reduce it to the minimum.

“As we have seen in other climes, the United Kingdom has different levels of policing just like the United States of America. So why should ours be different?

“The lives of our people are very important and we must do everything possible to make sure we protect lives and property. We want to state categorically that we believe in state police and we want to urge the National Assembly to continue with its intendment to establish state police through the process of constitutional amendment,” Obasa said while praising President Tinubu for his resolve to end insecurity in the country.

Commending the Speaker for his stand on the issue of state police, the lawmaker representing Badagry Constituency 1, argued that with its current structure, it would be difficult for the Nigeria Police Force to effectively secure the country.

Also declaring his support for State Police, another lawmaker, Hon. Sa’ad Olumoh (Ajeromi/Ifelodun 1), said each Nigerian state currently has a local security outfit in the semblance of state police.

“Today, which State does not have State Police one way or the other? This is a cause that should be supported. For the IG to come out and say state police is not in the interest of Nigeria shows he is not considering the reality of insecurity on Nigerians,” he said.

The Police in Ondo State have arrested five suspected kidnappers who abducted a pastor’s wife and two other persons.

They were arrested after their victims identified one of them.

The victims reportedly escaped when the kidnappers slept off while taking them to their den.

It was gathered that the effect of hard drugs taken by the kidnappers made them to fall asleep.

Names of the suspected kidnappers were given as Garuba Mumuni, 27; Yusuf Tale, 21; Kabiru Muhammed, 16; Shaibu Umar and Adamu Mohammed, aged 22.

Police said the suspects were arrested by men of the Ofosu Division after the victims identified one of them.

The police said: “A case of kidnapping was reported at Ofosu Division, that a pastor’s wife and a member were kidnapped in the church while the third victim was kidnapped while picking snails at the farm. The victims however, escaped from their assailants at different dates after they had taken hard drugs and slept off.

“Through intelligence on the 1st of May, 2024, five amongst the six kidnappers were arrested by men of Ofosu division and have been identified by the victims as part of the gang that abducted them.

“On the 28th of March, 2024 at about 1800hrs, a case of kidnapping was reported at Ifon police station, in which two people were abducted and a woman killed by suspected kidnappers.

“Police detectives from the division in collaboration with local vigilantes arrested one Muhammad Bello, Muhammad Suraju and Suleiman Saliu.

One of the victims identified two of the suspects as part of the people who kidnapped him and collected the sum of N1,800,000 as ransom before he was released.”

Ondo State Police Commissioner, Peter Abayomi, said the suspects would be charged to court after investigation

A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, Dele Momodu, has faulted the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s conduct in its attempt to prosecute the immediate past Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello.

He said he had expected the anti-graft agency’s boss, Ola Olukoyede, to have learnt from the cases of his predecessors, who he said were “booted out ignominiously”.

Momodu, who spoke on his Instagram Live show, while responding to questions on the burning topic by viewers, also frowned at the issue of selective prosecution, saying “a situation where EFCC would have to be told who can be touched and who cannot be touched is unacceptable.”

He said, “When they brought in the new chairman, I thought oh, you will have the benefit of learning from your predecessors. All of them were booted out ignominiously and if I were in the shoes of the current chairman, what I will simply do is make sure I do my job as meticulously, as professionally, as efficiently as possible. And, you will never go wrong if you obey the rule of law.

“I watched the EFCC chairman, I think either last week or the week before the last, I was almost crying because the way he went on and on..if I don’t do this… spitting fire and all.. you don’t have to do media trial.”

When asked if EFCC was lying about the former Governor, he said, “I have no idea, I don’t work for EFCC but from all the things that I have read, a lot of them, they misfired. That is the honest truth. They misfired. They didn’t do their due diligence. When you said a man took out money and paid for his children’s school fees, just as he was about to leave power, and you go and check the documents and you see that these things started happening from 2021, 2022 (laughs); I am not an illiterate.

“How do you expect me to believe everything they said when they were too much in a hurry to prosecute him that they did not take their time to check the file. Once you allow a lacuna in law, everything will fall flat. “That is it. I am not one of those people who will say because I don’t like APC and because I supported Dino Melaye in the last election in Kogi State. Dino is my guy. But, I will not because of that be blinded by hatred for Yahaya Bello and say yes, he should go and surrender himself to EFCC when there is an existing injunction.

“And he is not the only governor who went to court and if the court has granted him that, so be it. We all know that our judiciary is not so perfect but you know, even at that, law is law, it must be obeyed. If we disobey the rule of law, then, we will have to obey the rule of the jungle. So, I never said that they are lying, it is their own statement that shows that they didn’t do their due diligence.”

Momodu, a PDP presidential aspirant, advised President Bola Tinubu not to allow people mislead him into disregarding the rule of law, saying those people would not be there for him tomorrow.

“My advice to President Tinubu is, don’t listen to all these people who will run away when tomorrow comes. Just follow the rule of law. I am appealing, obey the rule of law…. A situation where the EFCC will have to be told who can be touched, who cannot be touched; It is unacceptable. It is unacceptable! And that is why a lot of people have given up. You can see that a lot of serious people are not even interested in whatever they are doing to Yahaya Bello. A lot of people are not interested because they have felt all the gra gra before, it is nothing new,” he stated.

The veteran journalist added that there were a lot of criminals in the system to prosecute but a situation where the agency was getting personal on just one person was uncalled for.

“Nigerians should stop wasting time. There are a lot of criminals in our system to prosecute but when the chairman who should take the people to court comes and say to one person, ‘if I don’t prosecute you to conclusion, I will resign’, that is getting personal. You don’t need all that,” he pointed out.

He disclosed that one of his favourite books while growing up was The Rights of Man by Thomas Paine and that it had influenced him so much that he would always defend the rights of everybody to fair hearing even if he had something against the person.

“I don’t hate anybody as a Christian. I don’t have anything against Yahaya Bello. If they like, they can choose to jail him for one million years, as long as you try him properly. This is my position, you can quote me on it,” he said.

Still on the issue of school fees, Momodu said, “I mean, I looked at the issue of school fees. Before I read, I was like how can somebody pay that kind of money? Then, when I read, it was something else I was seeing. They said he paid upfront just before he left government, and when I checked, that was not what happened. How can you try people before you will go and examine the fact?”

On if he had resigned from the PDP, he said, “If I resign, that means I am quiting. No, I am still a member of the PDP. I said it clearly after the election in 2022 during the PDP primary, they asked us, if you don’t get our ticket, are you going go jump ship? And, I said, I can’t, I won’t jump ship and I stand by that.”

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