Nigerians will no longer tolerate worsening insecurity…Ekweremadu 

Former Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekwerenmadu says the federal government id unseriousness in reforming the police system. 
 Ekwerenmadu, in a statement, said that the government is addressing the symptoms of policing problems than the illness. 
The former Deputy Senate President stated that “the problem with our policing and the attendant insecurity and excesses are engraved majorly in Section 214 (1) of the 1999 constitution, which provides that ‘there shall be a police force for Nigeria, which shall be known as the Nigeria Police Force, and subject to the provisions of this section, no other police force shall be established for the Federation or any part thereof.”
The section he said is worsened by Section 215 (2), which declares that “the Nigeria Police Force shall be under the command of the Inspector-General of Police and contingents of the Nigeria Police Force stationed in a state shall, subject to the authority of the Inspector-General of Police, be under the command of the Commissioner of Police of that state.”
Ekwerenmadu also criticized the disbandment of the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) and proposed setting up of the Special Weapons and Tactical Team (SWAT), Ekweremadu.
He called on the President, Muhammadu Buhari, to ensure the decentralisation of policing and institution in the country. 
This he said will bring lasting solution to policing and end the impunity and shortcomings of the police force.  
Ekweremadu regretted that the Bill to amend the constitution to create state police, which he sponsored in the 8th and 9th Senate had not received the required political support.

Furthermore, the former Deputy Senate President insisted that “the ongoing street protests over the excesses of elements in the Nigeria Police did not come to me as a surprise.
“As a matter of fact, I had always known, and warned severally that a day would come when Nigerians would no longer tolerate the worsening insecurity in the land and the excesses of those charged with protecting lives and property.”
He called on the President and other stakeholders to seize the opportunity of the widespread demands for police reforms by Nigerians to address the structural challenges.
“Nigeria is the only federal state with a unitary police. It has never worked anywhere. It is not working here and it will never work.
“Therefore, whether we call it SARS or SWAT, we will only be addressing the symptoms instead of the diseases until we decentralise policing to allow citizens and the states take charge of the security of lives and properties of its people. 
“This is the more reassuring way of addressing the mounting challenges of corruption, excesses, indiscipline, abuse, inadequate and poorly-motivated manpower as well as lack of equipment and security infrastructure currently bedevilling policing in Nigeria,” he continued. 
The lawmaker added that one of the lessons from the ENDSARS protest was that Nigerians could always engender the changes they desired if they acted as one.

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