Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, has lambasted Oyo State
Governor, Seyi Makinde; and his Ondo State counterpart, Rotimi Akeredolu, for
visiting the President, Muhammadu Buhari in a bid to find
lasting solution to the herdsmen crisis rocking the two South-West states.
Falana spoke on a PUNCH programme, The Roundtable on Friday.
He said the two governors are chief security officers of
their respective states as well as members of the Nigeria Police Council and
should make demands for security reinforcements from the council order than
seeking same from the president.
After the meetings at the Presidential Villa on Wednesday, Akeredolu did not speak with State House correspondents while Makinde said he seized the opportunity of the meeting to call for the establishment of more Police Mobile Force squadrons in the state.
But the senior advocate said the president is the
commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces and not of the Nigeria Police Force,
adding that the governors should have approached the police council.
He said, “These are regular meetings and I have said to the
face of the governors, you have no business going to Abuja to beg the
president, ‘Please, post more policemen to my state’. No, you are a member of
the Nigeria Police Council, that is the business of the police council –to
administer, organise and supervise the police force.
“The president is not the commander-in-chief of the Nigeria
Police Force, no. Police powers are to be jointly shared by the president, by
the federal and the state governments but we’ve left the president to control
the Nigeria Police Force since 1999, that has to stop.
“It is not the prerogative of the president to decide when
to post more policemen to Oyo State. No. So, our governors have to, as chief
security officers of their states, take control because in every state, you
have a state security council headed by the governor. The commissioner of
police is a member, the director of state security services is a member. If
there is a military institution in that state, the commander is a member.
“The body is to meet regularly to ensure that there is
security of lives in every state. So, if a governor has a problem, that has to
be taken to the Nigeria Police Council but that council never meets. This is
worsening the insecurity situation in the country. That is a body that should
be meeting on a monthly basis to ensure that we protect every Nigerian and
every visitor to Nigeria.”
“That is what should
be. I have a case in court to compel the presidency to (convene this meeting).
We must organise this country,” Falana said.
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