Human rights activist and presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, has warned the President Bola Tinubu-led Nigerian government over its hurried push to establish state police ahead of the 2027 general elections, saying that placing armed security structures under the control of state governors before the polls could undermine democracy and worsen human rights abuses.
Speaking during an interview on Channels Television on Tuesday, Sowore said although he strongly supports the decentralisation of policing in Nigeria, the current proposal is being rushed without adequate public consultation and constitutional safeguards.
According to him, the creation of state police should only be pursued as part of a broader restructuring of Nigeria into a true federal system, insisting that security decentralisation should not be implemented selectively.
“Well, let me make a clarification first,” Sowore said.
“And my clarification is that I do not have any problem with state police. I do not have any problem with decentralisation of security. But decentralisation of security also means that we go back to a full federal system.
“You should not cherry-pick on decentralisation, that there’s one thing you like and there’s another you don’t really like.
“I am in support of state policing, I’m in support of local government policing, I’m in support of even campus policing, I’m in support of every town and village in Nigeria having its own police.
“My own issue is that they must be properly trained, they must be properly regulated, monitored, because my priority as far as these issues are concerned is human rights.”
The activist stressed that any new policing structure must guarantee adequate welfare for officers to prevent corruption and abuse of power.
“Anybody who is involved in this police or policing must be appropriately remunerated. We must think about their pension, their salaries, so that you also hand weapons over to people who are hungry, who then become part of the security problem in the country. We’ve had enough of that.”
Sowore argued that the constitutional amendment required to establish state police should not be rushed through the National Assembly without extensive nationwide consultations.
“But I also align and agree with those people who say this is suspicious, that this is being rushed and is not going through proper parliamentary procedures for the enactment of a major law like this, because this is a major constitutional change that we are going to experience,” he said.
“And that it should have been open to public debate, it should have gone across the states so that the public can make inputs.”
He expressed concern that introducing state police barely months before the next general election could hand governors enormous powers capable of influencing electoral outcomes.
“But we are being rushed, and considering that the election year is circular, and that Nigerian state governors are not trustworthy to be handed security personnel of this scale, people said, ‘Hey, wait a minute, why don’t we just take our time to figure this out, so that we don’t end up in the middle of elections with state police in the hands of these very ravenous political juggernauts who are called governors.’
“They are apparently some of the most powerful politicians in the country.
“So that’s where my position stands, that I align with those who say let’s be careful, because we can’t entrust our security in the hands of people who we know do not have respect for human rights.”
Responding to a question on whether the National Assembly’s proposed two-week window for public contributions was sufficient, Sowore insisted it was grossly inadequate for a constitutional amendment of such magnitude.
“It’s not enough, because this is not just enacting a simple law. Here we are changing the Constitution.
“The Constitution of Nigeria did recognize a national police.”
He maintained that discussions on state policing should commence only after the 2027 elections.
“I would say that we wait until the elections are over. Election is a major distraction at this time.
“Election is barely six months from now, and everybody is going to be more interested in how to campaign, how to choose their candidates, and how to ensure the elections are free and fair.
“To now insert state policing, a very major constitutional change or fundamental federal structural change that could lead to structural damage or interference with the election is not the best time.
“That is the only issue I have with the rush.
“So when we are done with the elections, we can commence immediately with a conversation about state policing and who is where in terms of breaking down the security architecture in the country.”
Sowore also coment on assessment of President Bola Tinubu’s administration, declaring that the government had failed across virtually every sector of governance.
Asked to rate the administration, he replied:
“Nothing. Nothing.
“Because I read the government from a number of parameters, and one of it is security. You know where we have failed.
“We’re talking about the power sector. The national grid has collapsed more than anything else in this country in the last three years.
“We’re talking about education. We are now asking our children to borrow to go to school.
“We’re talking about healthcare. Even the President doesn’t go to Nigerian hospitals.
“We’re talking about food security. Nigeria is on the list of countries regarded as hungry to the point that the Food and Agriculture Organisation considers Nigeria as one of the places you have to send food to in 2026 to feed the people.
“We’re talking about the economy. We have grown the number of poor people from about 70million three years ago to 140million.
“So you tell me, if you look at all these parameters, where I could fit even a good comment, where I can even grade them F, I can’t find it.”
Using a classroom analogy, Sowore said if Tinubu were his student, he would ask him to leave the class.
“As I usually say, being a former professor or teacher — professor is what they call university teachers in the US — if I would just ask the administration to leave, that’s what I would have done.
“If Tinubu has to be in my class, I’d just ask him to go and find another school or just go and learn something else.”
Clarifying his remarks, he added:
“No, I’m not asking him to retire.
“I’m asking him to go back to school so that he can go and obtain his primary and secondary certificates.
“We don’t know that the person who obtained the degree is Tinubu that is governing Nigeria. That’s the problem.”
When confronted with claims that Nigeria’s macroeconomic indicators had improved and that the Central Bank of Nigeria had received international recognition, Sowore rejected the government’s position, insisting that economic statistics meant little if citizens remained impoverished.
“They don’t hold up.
“When people want to come to power in Nigeria, when they are contesting for office, they specifically make promises.
“Maybe we should start by judging the current administration by the promises they made.”
According to him, Tinubu had failed to fulfil his pledge to improve electricity supply.
“Tinubu made it clear in the area of the power sector that if you are not getting 24 hours of electricity by the time I’m done with the first tenure, don’t vote for me again.
“We are very close to the end of the first tenure. So he has failed in that power sector.”
He also criticised the administration’s education policies, particularly the student loan programme.
“He has failed in the education sector because there are still 13 million or more kids who are out of school.
“You are giving student loans to people who already can’t even afford to pay for it.
“Instead of giving grants, scholarships and building more schools, you are not building anything.”
Sowore dismissed references to international recognition received by the Central Bank of Nigeria, arguing that such accolades have no value if ordinary Nigerians continue to experience hardship.
“When you want to deceive Nigerians, you start breaking economies into macro and micro levels.
“You say that the Central Bank of Nigeria got an award from somewhere in the UK.
“The central banking system is not a Nobel Prize award situation.
“If your central bank gets an award from any of these award-giving organisations in the UK — which I’m sure you don’t even know where they came from — it doesn’t mean anything if your people are hungry, if your monetary policies are in shambles, if your currency is weak, if your job market is tanking, or your inflationary system is rubbishing your people’s quality of life.
“What are we talking about?
“We’ve always heard this before, that the Central Bank got an award somewhere, and at the end of the day, when we are done with the central bank governor of that same period, you send the central bank governor to jail for having committed massive economic crimes.”
He urged Nigerians to judge the government by the quality of life experienced by citizens rather than official economic narratives.
“So, please, let’s just be serious for once.
“Don’t break any macro. It’s not as if I don’t understand macroeconomic theories, but I want us to pin it down to the quality of life of the Nigerian people.
“Are you doing well? Are you doing better than you were three years ago?
“The answer is no. So keep both your macroeconomic policy and your Central Bank award.”
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(SaharaReporters)