The presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, Peter Obi, on Friday urged President Bola Tinubu to postpone the implementation of state police until after the 2027 general election, warning that introducing the new policing structure ahead of the polls could expose it to political manipulation.
Obi’s position comes barely days after the National Assembly passed the Constitution Alteration Bill seeking to establish state police, a landmark reform aimed at decentralising Nigeria’s policing system in response to growing insecurity across the country.
The proposed constitutional amendment, which now awaits approval by at least 24 state Houses of Assembly before presidential assent, provides for the creation of state police commands alongside the Nigeria Police Force.
It also includes safeguards intended to prevent governors from abusing the new security architecture, following years of concerns that state police could be deployed against political opponents.
However, Obi argued that despite the merits of decentralised
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