I am 100% against State Police, Says Elechi

Ebonyi State Governor, Chief Martin Elechi, has restated that he is 100 per cent against the formation of state police in the country, declaring that the nation is safer with a uniformed police force.

Elechi made the declaration at the weekend, when a team of senior police personnel from the Communication Directorate, Office of the Inspector General of Police (IG), visited him at Government House, Abakaliki.

The directorate was led by the force Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr. Frank Mba, a Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP).

The governor saw state police as unhealthy development and even advocated for the posting of police officers outside their state of origin, stressing that such measures would eliminate bias and compromise and enhance the performance of officers. He reiterated that over the years, he had watched the trend of events in the country and recalled that even the  colonial administration had jettisoned regional police force, and opted for federal police.

“I am totally against state police, I am 100 per cent against it, at least at this point in time, I see it as unhealthy development, we are safer if we have a uniform police force,” he admonished.

He asked: “What if today I have Ebonyi police as a  PDP state, escorting somebody to Lagos, an ACN state, what happens at the various road blocks from Abakaliki to Lagos?”

Because of the dangers inherent in state police, the governor imagined a situation where a policeman is sent to a place where his community has communal crisis with another community, concluding that “ordinarily he is bound to take sides.”

With this, he said: “I prefer a situation where policeman goes to a place away from their home and put in his best."

Speaking on state government’s assistance to the police, Elechi restated that the administration had procured six Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC), the renovation of the state police headquarters, and donation of patrol vehicles among others to the police.

The governor said the state government constructed a residential building for a serving police officer in the state, in his home town, Lafia Nassarawa State, as a reward for his gallantry in tracking down
armed robbers that had been terrorising the people of Afikpo town in the state.

Elechi gave the assurance that the National Economic Council (NEC), and the Council of State, had put in measures to improve the welfare of police officers, in terms of training and adequate remunerations, among others.