Former Governor of Delta State, Mr Emmanuel Uduaghan has backed the call for the creation of state police.
He stated this on Monday when he featured as a guest on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily.
“These security challenges got worse because the management method is not in full control by the governor,” he said.
“A lot of the security challenges that we are having now would have been either minimal or not there at all.”
Uduaghan explained that the rising spate of insecurity borders on the management issues by state governors unable to handle the police seen as a federal structure
He is of the opinion that when established, it would help contain the security challenges in parts of the country.
The former governor also denied claims arising from the fear that some state governors might want to use the state police to intimidate people.
His argument was based on the fact that before such would arise, there must be an offence strong enough to warrant such arrest.
Uduaghan added, “No governor will tell policeman (to) come to Channels and arrests Chamberlain without your having committed an offence. These days on social media, it is difficult to oppress anybody. For that to be possible, there must have been an underlying offence that you committed.
“You don’t need a police officer to oppress people, I am telling you this from my experience as a governor. If I want to oppress you, I don’t need the police to oppress you.”
Recalling his experience as governor, Uduaghan explained that once a newly posted Commissioner of Police arrives a state, he reports to the governor.
For the issue of effective policing to be achieved, he stressed, was for a balance to be struck between the CP and the governor.
He, however, regretted a situation whereby a CP refuses executing a decision reached at the State’s Security Council at the instance of the Inspector General of Police.
Uduaghan believes such was the avoidable tragedy that plagued Benue State, leading to the death of over 70 indigenes of the state.
“There was a security council meeting, the decision was taken but the Commissioner still needed the order from the IGP to act. That is the problem we are talking about,” he averred.
