Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has called for the creation of state police to address growing insecurity in the country.
The former president made the call on Thursday when the leadership of the National Association of Ex-Local Government Chairmen in Nigeria visited him in Abeokuta, Ogun State.
A statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Kehinde Akinyemi, indicated that the group was led by the pioneer National Chairman of the association, Albert Asipa; the Ogun State chapter Chairman, Shoyemi Coker; Chinwe Monu-Olarewaju, (Delta State); and the king of Odogbolu, Oba Toye Alatise; and Gbegande of Ososa, a former chairman of Ijebu-Ode Local Government Area, Ogun State, among others.
The statement quoted Obasanjo as lauding the initiative behind the formation of the body, stressing that “Our situation in Nigeria concerns everyone, particularly the case of terrorism.
“The case has gotten over the issue of community police. It is now state police. It is from that State Police that we can now be talking about community police.”
It stated the need to strengthen the traditional institution and the local government administration, “which I prepared during the popular Murtala/Obasanjo administration, because I believe that there is need to enable that tier of government to work truly as a local government. They have their own executive, judiciary and legislature.
“They were working and they were very visible, building and managing roads, looking into education, health, local administration, agriculture, but they were all gone.”
The group presented Obasanjo with a letter as its life patron on the occasion.
