Peter Obi urges pause on State Police implementation, warns of risk to 2027 election

Abdullateef Fowewe

NDC presidential candidate, Peter Obi has described the National Assembly’s passage of the State Police Bill as “a significant legislative milestone” but urged caution over its hurried enactment and implementation, saying the process and safeguards remain deeply flawed.

This was said in a statement Obi shared on social media on Friday.

“The recent passage of the State Police Bill by the National Assembly marks a significant legislative milestone in addressing a long-standing demand of the Nigerian people,” Obi said in the statement.

He added that while many have argued that “a highly centralised policing structure is fundamentally unsuitable for a country as vast, diverse, and complex as Nigeria,” the “legislative and constitutional implementation appears shaky and raises legitimate concerns.”

Obi criticised the manner in which the law was handled, saying the process “appears highly disorganised, with no public hearing on such a sensitive issue.”

He called for greater community participation and urged that policing be “more visible at the local government and community levels.”

Highlighting political risks, Obi warned the greatest danger is historical, “There is a widespread, justifiable fear that state police forces could become instruments in the hands of governors.”

He said a state-controlled police could be “weaponised to suppress political rivals, disrupt opposition rallies, and manipulate elections.”

To guard against such abuses, Obi recommended that any law enabling state policing include robust, independent oversight — citing a need for “a state-level Police Service Commission that is entirely free from executive influence, to ensure that policing serves the public interest rather than the interests of the ruling elite.”

Expressing particular concern about the timing, he argued that “going by what Nigerians have seen so far, there is no guarantee that this administration can resist the temptation to take advantage of state policing to influence the 2027 general election by proxy.”

Obi therefore called for deferring implementation of state policing “until after the general election.”