Elder statesman, Chief Anabs Sara-Igbe, has called on the federal government not to allow power-drunk individuals to hijack the state police when created.
Sara-Igbe, who made the call yesterday in a chat with LEADERSHIP Weekend in Port Harcourt, said such individuals may end up influencing personnel of the force to be against those they were supposed to protect.
“In some countries, there are different levels of policing. The crime rate in this country is high and there is nothing wrong in removing the Police from exclusive legislative list to concurrent legislative list where state police or local police can be set up.
“Even in America, there different levels of policing; even in United Kingdom, there are different levels of policing. So, if we have different levels of policing, it is good.
“But, the danger it will bring to Nigeria is that people are power-drunk. Sometimes, they use their power, because they are the ones to pay. They use it to influence the police against the same persons they are supposed to protect,” he said.
Sara-Igbe, who is also former spokesman of the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), said it will be easier to tackle crime and criminality if local communities are empowered to work with the local police in the area of information gathering.
He said, “Otherwise, it is the local community that knows who are who is within that place. When the local communities are empowered to work with the local police and they will be able to work to fish out criminal elements.
“Again, in terms of information gathering, it is easier for the local police to get information. Information gathering is key to security. Without information gathering or intelligence, You cannot have effective security. For security to be effective, you need to have information gathering, you need to have surveillance.“
