Governors ready for State police, says Oyebanji

Governors are ready for the operation of State police, Ekiti State Governor  Biodun Oyebanji said yesterday.

He emphasized that the 36 governors are willing to  fast-track its implementation once the constitutional amendment is completed.

Oyebanji also disclosed that the National Economic Council (NEC)  had already deliberated on the issue, stressing that most states  submitted their positions in support of the initiative long before the National Assembly began the Constitution amendment process.

The governor spoke with reporters  on the imperative of decentralised policing after meeting with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the State House, Abuja, where he presented his certificate of return issued by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to him for winning the June 22 governorship elections.

He was accompanied by the Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, who was the chairman of the campaign council.

He said constitutional and legislative safeguards would be put in place by the National Assembly to prevent the abuse of state police by governors.

Oyebanji said: “We are ready for state police. We are thankful to the National Assembly for the constitutional amendments, and we are waiting for them to be transmitted to the state Houses of Assembly.”

He added: “The governors have made up their minds that they are going to give it speedy approval so that we can start implementation.”

No room for abuse, says Bamidele

The Senate Leader said the parliament has acknowledged the popular fear about like misuse of the decentralised policing structure by sub-national unit authorities.

Bamidele allayed the fears while speaking with reporters yesterday.

Oyebanji, who also reflected on the imperative of the state police, said the 36 governors were ready for the innovation.

The State Police Bill has been passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives.

However, the committees of both chambers are expected to harmonise their different positions on some aspects of the bill when they resume plenaries on July 7.

Last month, the 36 Speakers of the Houses of Assembly pledged to pass the resolution critical to the alteration of the 1999 Constitution to permit it’s operations.

Bamidele, who acknowledged that the fears about abuse are legitimate, said lawmakers were already addressing them in the constitutional amendment process.

He said: “There will always be fears and concerns. Whether those concerns are well-founded is another issue altogether, but we are not unmindful of them. In most cases, they are legitimate concerns.”

The Senate Leader noted that even under the current policing structure, governors as chief security officers of their states, could influence the deployment of the federal police to the extent that the system permits.

He, however, stressed that the proposed legal framework for state police would contain mechanisms aimed at preventing or significantly reducing opportunities for abuse.

Bamidele said: “We are putting mechanisms in the law, as we are amending the Constitution, that will prevent or minimise instances of abuse by state governors.

“It is not everything that can go into the Constitution, but what is important is that we are taking these concerns into consideration.”

The Senate Leader said that more detailed operational safeguards would be incorporated into the amendments to the Police Act after the constitution amendment establishing state police is concluded.

He said  the Police Act would provide detailed provisions that could not be accommodated in the Constitution.

Bamidele added: “In the amendment to the Police Act that will follow, we will spell out more details—details that cannot possibly go into the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

The Senate Leader  also said the widespread support for the proposal among governors reflected a growing national consensus on the need to decentralise policing in response to Nigeria’s security challenges.

He expressed confidence that the  Houses of Assembly would speedily endorse the constitutional amendment when it is transmitted by the National Assembly.

Bamidele said: “All the governors, or most of the governors, are on the same page with us, and that will be demonstrated by the speed with which the bill will receive concurrence in their state Houses of Assembly by the time we eventually transmit it.”

Ekiti targets 700,000 votes for Tinubu

Oyebanji  projected that Ekiti would deliver between 600,000 and 700,000 votes for President Tinubu during the 2027 general election.

He said the target is achievable, following the growing electoral support for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state.

Oyebanji said the steady rise in the party’s electoral performance since 2022 showed that the President’s re-election prospects in Ekiti are “very bright.”

The governor, who  secured a historic second term mandate, said APC won  187,000 votes in the 2022 governorship election, increased the figure to  210,000 during the 2023 presidential election, and recorded  318,000 votes during the 2026  governorship poll.

He said: “The President’s chances are very bright. In 2022 when we first contested, we won with about 187,000 votes. Six months later, when the President contested and I had only been in office for a few months, we increased it to about 210,000 votes.

“This 2026 governorship election has produced about 318,000 votes. So, you can extrapolate from that and see that our target in 2027 is between 600,000 and 700,000 votes, and it is doable.”

Oyebanji attributed his unprecedented victory, the first by any governor in Ekiti State, to God’s grace and President Tinubu’s support.

He said  both factors enabled his administration to fulfil its promises to the people.

Oyebanji pledged to run a more inclusive administration in his second term, stressing that the election was over and governance must now take precedence over politics.

He disclosed that he had already reached out to his major opponents after the election, adding that  he personally called both candidates and visited one of them alongside the chairman of his campaign council.

Oyebanji also promised to visit the other opposition candidate on his return to Ekiti, adding that both had assured him of their cooperation in the interest of the state.

On his agenda for a second term, Oyebanji said his administration would remain committed to implementing Ekiti State’s 30-year development plan, explaining that the long-term blueprint would continue to guide government policies, annual budgets and development priorities.

He added: “We are not going to do anything differently because that 30-year development plan is the basis upon which our yearly budgets are built and upon which our manifesto is crafted. We will continue to diligently follow that plan.”(The Nation)