PRP’s Baba-Ahmed opposes state police under Tinubu, cites trust deficit

National Chairman of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, has argued that the current administration should not implement state police, saying Nigerians lack confidence in the Federal Government’s ability to manage such a reform without political interference.

Baba-Ahmed made the remarks on Friday during an appearance on Politics Today, a Channels Television programme, where he described the present period as the wrong time to establish state police despite acknowledging the need for reforms in Nigeria’s policing system.

According to him, the proposal has existed for years, predating the administration of President Bola Tinubu, raising questions about why previous governments failed to implement it if it was considered the solution to the country’s security challenges.

“There are 100 good reasons why you have to revisit policing in Nigeria, but there are also 100 good reasons to say, don’t do it now. The issue of state police has been on the table long before Tinubu’s government. If it is such a crucial solution to improving security, you would think a serious government would have said, ‘Let’s do state police’. Certainly not by the APC government. The best time is not now. In fact, this is the worst possible time,” he said.

He maintained that while policing in Nigeria requires urgent restructuring, creating state police under the current government could deepen existing concerns over the politicisation of security institutions.

Baba-Ahmed said the President still has several options within the existing security framework to improve safety across the country, including strengthening the police, improving the performance of the military and addressing the persistent killings in different parts of Nigeria.

He criticised the government’s approach, arguing that simply creating state-controlled police forces would not solve the nation’s security problems and could instead worsen them, adding that public confidence in the administration’s commitment to tackling insecurity remained low.

While reiterating that Nigeria’s police institution requires comprehensive reforms after years of declining effectiveness, Baba-Ahmed maintained that any move to establish state police should be left to a future administration with greater public confidence and credibility.