Reported by: Oahimire Omone Precious | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
The Executive Director of Citizens Advocacy for Social and Economic Rights (CASER), Frank TieTie, has accused Nigerian political actors of reducing the urgent debate over state policing to a partisan turf war, arguing that the fixation on what governors might do with the new powers has obscured the real issue: the protection of citizens' lives and the shared constitutional responsibility for security across all three tiers of government. TieTie's comments come just days after the Nigerian Senate passed the landmark Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (Alteration) (State Police) Bill, 2026, on Wednesday, June 24, 2026, clearing the path for the establishment of a dual federal-state policing system and marking the most significant shift in the country's security architecture in decades. The bill, which now moves to the House of Representatives for concurrence, has ignited a fierce national debate, with critics warning that state governors could weaponise local police forces against political opponents, while proponents insist that decentralisation is the only way to tackle the country's spiralling insecurity.
In an interview with Arise TV posted on Sunday, June 28, 2026, TieTie pushed back against what he described as the "unnecessary politicisation" of the reform, insisting that the conversation had lost sight of the fundamental principle that security is a shared responsibility of the President, governors, and state legislatures. "The priority should be protecting lives, not playing politics," he declared. TieTie, a lawyer and long-time advocate for police reform, has consistently argued that Nigeria's current policing structure is a relic of the colonial era that is inherently incapable of addressing modern threats such as kidnapping, banditry, and terrorism. He has previously described the federal police as "woefully incompetent and deeply entrenched in corruption" and has urged the National Assembly to decentralise the system as a matter of urgency. He further argued that decentralising policing would finally hold governors accountable for security outcomes in their states, removing the convenient excuse that they are merely "Chief Security Officers" without operational command.
Addressing the most persistent concern surrounding the reform — that governors would misuse state police as private political armies — TieTie dismissed the fears as "highly unfounded." He argued that political leaders cannot afford to abuse a system they might later be subjected to, noting that "you do not stay in government forever. If you abuse the police today, tomorrow it could be your turn." He also pointed to the existence of the Police Service Commission at the federal level as a model for state-level oversight, adding that "nothing stops states from having their own Police Service Commissions." His remarks echo the safeguards that lawmakers have already embedded in the bill to prevent abuse. Section 17(7) of the proposed constitutional amendment explicitly states that a state Commissioner of Police "shall not arrest, detain, investigate or deploy force against any person, political party or group merely for criticising the government, except in accordance with the law." The bill also gives commissioners a formal "escape hatch" to refer any unlawful or politically motivated directive from a governor directly to the National Police Council for binding arbitration.
TieTie emphasised that the debate has been framed too narrowly around the actions of governors, when in reality, security is a collective duty. "We often forget that providing security is a shared responsibility of the President, governors, and state legislatures," he said. He argued that the current focus on what governors might do distracts from the more pressing question of how to ensure the safety of communities that have been ravaged by kidnapping and banditry for years. His intervention comes amid a flurry of reactions from political figures, including Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), who has called for the implementation of state police to be postponed until after the 2027 elections, citing fears of electoral manipulation. Obi's position has been met with resistance from proponents of the reform, who argue that delaying implementation would prolong the suffering of communities already overwhelmed by insecurity. As the bill moves toward final passage and ratification by at least 24 state Houses of Assembly, TieTie's message is unambiguous: the time for political manoeuvring is over. "The priority should be protecting lives, not playing politics," he said. For the millions of Nigerians who have endured years of insecurity, the debate over state police is not an abstract political exercise — it is a matter of life and death.
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