By Cross Udo, Abuja
The Chairman of the Northern Governors Forum, and governor of Gombe State, Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya yesterday said he was in support of the establishment of State Police.
Yahaya made his support known while fielding questions from State House correspondents after meeting with the Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
According to him, “The State Police issue is a constitutional matter that will have to go through the National Assembly and eventually the States individually because it needs two-thirds of the State Assemblies in Nigeria to endorse whatever position.
“Personally and I believe the whole of the people of Gombe State are behind the idea of having State Police because that will take security closer to the people and we will be able to monitor more than somebody else monitoring or managing our security.
“I think that is the vision of the President about his support for that and even everybody across the broad spectrum of Nigerians. I believe when the bill goes to the National Assembly it will have an easy passage through the states and very soon because inadvertently, it is the States that are managing security now since almost every state has its arm of security that supports the various security agencies.
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“Even though it is said that the Governors are the Chief Security Officers, the men on the ground commanding the security agencies, that is, the General Officers Commanding (GOC) or the Commissioner of Police, are answerable to their commanders here in Abuja but with State Police, we will be able to monitor the pulse and implement any decision hastily and there will be results.”
The governor stressed that he is fully convinced about his love for the creation of State Police, adding that he believes many of the States in Nigeria will go in the same direction.
Yahaya revealed that the state government was taking the necessary steps towards boosting the electricity supply to its people, adding that Governors of States in the North-East zone are doing the same thing.
He assured that there is a better approach now and the governors hope to overcome the persistent problem.
