Afenifere, Southern Leaders Seek Governors’ Powers to Appoint, Remove State Police Chiefs

The Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum has endorsed the establishment of state police but insisted that governors must have full constitutional authority to appoint and remove state Commissioners of Police, warning that anything less would undermine the objective of decentralised policing.

The position was contained in a communiqué issued after a meeting of the forum held on Tuesday at the Pan Niger Delta Forum liaison office in Abuja.

The forum, which comprises Afenifere, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the Pan Niger Delta Forum and the Middle Belt Forum, argued that state policing should reflect the principles of true federalism rather than remain under federal control.

Reading the communiqué, the forum’s chairman and factional leader of Afenifere, Chief Oladipo Olaitan, said governors should exercise the same powers over state police commissioners as the President currently has over the Inspector-General of Police.

“SMBLF welcomes state police, of which we have been advocates over the years, but insists that state police should reflect true federalism and not a Federal State Police,” he said.

“To that end, state governors shall have the same power to appoint or remove a Commissioner of Police as the President in relation to the Inspector-General of Police.”

The regional leaders also renewed their call for a new constitution that would devolve greater powers to federating units and strengthen Nigeria’s federal structure.

According to Olaitan, the forum would mobilise support for a presidential candidate committed to delivering a new constitution.

On the 2027 general election, the forum reaffirmed its earlier position that the presidency should remain in the South after President Bola Tinubu’s first term, describing the arrangement as essential for political stability and national unity.

The group further criticised what it described as the declining level of internal democracy in political parties, alleging that party primaries were increasingly being controlled by a few influential individuals instead of party members.

The forum also commended the armed forces for recent successes against criminal groups in parts of the country, particularly in Oyo, Zamfara and Borno states.

However, it urged the Federal Government to intensify security operations in violence-prone states across the Middle Belt, including Benue, Plateau, Kaduna, Kwara and Kogi, while strengthening cooperation with neighbouring countries and the international community to tackle insecurity.