been cited as the major reason behind the sudden change of mind by
northern governors over the introduction of state police.
It will be recalled that at the meeting of the governors of the 36
states in Abuja last month, all the governors opted for state police
as a panacea for ending rising insecurity in the country.
However, the 19 northern governors met a few days after and kicked
against the idea of state police, saying that they were ready to work
with the existing police force.
A source close to one of the governors told Vanguard that the northern
governors were afraid that their dwindling financial position would
not permit the funding of state police like their Southern
counterparts, who they claim had more funds than them.
The source, which was in attendance at last week's meeting of the
Governors' Forum in Abuja, said: "The governors do not want to plunge
themselves into what they cannot adequately sustain and they do not
also want to lose what they consider as their leading position in the
Nigeria Police Force.
"During last Tuesday's meeting they made their position very clear
that they would continue to work with the NPF to contain insecurity in
their respective domains."
It was gathered that the northern governors had opted to present a
common position to the federal government on how best to tackle
insecurity in the country.
"They believe that the best way to ensure adequate security in all the
states is for the federal government to allow commissioners of police
to be controlled by the respective governors so that they can take
orders from the state executives. But the governors of the Southern
states are reported to have insisted that they would press ahead with
state police, hoping to embark on serious campaign to convince some of
their northern counterparts to change their minds before their next
meeting. It was learnt that while most of the governors would not
support the growing agitation for more states, they were however in
support of the rotation of governorship posts among the people of the
109 senatorial districts in the country to give a sense of belonging
to all Nigerians.
They reasoned that if rotational governorship was introduced, it would
eliminate the domination of most states by certain ethnic groups to
the detriment of the weaker ones. The source said that Benue and Kogi
states were used as examples of states were the minority groups could
never rule the states without a rotational arrangement for the
political offices in those states.
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