Finally, it does appear that the Nigerian state has embraced the reality that you cannot sufficiently police a vast and multifarious federation like ours from Abuja. For over two decades, advocacies to decentralise our policing structure fell on deaf ears. Legislative efforts in this regard were cut short, often on the altars of interfering influences and executive tight grips on every legitimate instrument of coercion.
There were also all manner of sentiments. Some thought that state police would serve secessionist interests, while many genuinely saw it as a ready axe in the hands of the governors and to cut the opposition and voices of dissent to size.
But I think the real opposition to state police stemmed from the fact that most people were oblivious of the weight of the insecurity that was incubating over the past decades. I recall a conversation between former Deputy President of the Senate, Senator
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