You’re Rushing State Police Bill to Mask Security Failures — ADC Knocks Tinubu

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has accused President Bola Tinubu’s administration of hastily pushing the State Police Bill to create the impression that it is addressing Nigeria’s deepening security challenges.

In a statement issued on Friday by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the opposition party described the proposed legislation as a politically motivated response to the country’s worsening insecurity rather than a carefully designed constitutional reform.

While reaffirming its long-standing support for the establishment of state police, the ADC stressed that decentralised policing should not be presented as an immediate solution to banditry, kidnapping, terrorism and other violent crimes confronting the country.

According to the party, any transition to state policing must be backed by strong institutional safeguards capable of preventing abuse and ensuring accountability.

The ADC further accused the Federal Government of repackaging what it described as a long-standing national consensus into a fresh initiative while attempting to fast-track the constitutional amendment through the National Assembly without adequate public engagement.

“What we are witnessing is a hurried response to a worsening security crisis, not the careful institutional planning required to build a functional, accountable and effective policing system,” the statement said.

The party also questioned the timing of the move, arguing that if the Tinubu administration genuinely believed in state policing as a solution, it should have prioritised the reform much earlier.

It asked why the government chose to aggressively pursue the proposal “almost at the end of its tenure” instead of laying the necessary groundwork from the beginning.

According to the ADC, passing legislation alone will not automatically improve security across the country.

The party maintained that several critical issues must be addressed before state police can become effective, including recruitment standards, personnel training, sustainable funding, command and operational structures, intelligence sharing, judicial oversight and comprehensive reforms within the correctional system.

The opposition warned that implementing state police without resolving these structural challenges could create new problems instead of strengthening Nigeria’s security architecture.

It urged the Federal Government to focus on developing a comprehensive policing framework built on transparency, accountability and public trust, insisting that genuine security reform requires broad consultation, careful planning and institutional readiness rather than politically expedient legislation aimed at masking existing failures.