The lawmaker representing Pankshin/Kanke/Kanam Federal Constituency of Plateau State in the House of Representatives, Yusuf Gagdi, has stated that governors’ handling of state independent electoral commissions (SIECs) shows they cannot be trusted with state police.

Naijaonpoint reports that the national assembly is reviewing the 1999 Constitution, with the creation of state police ranking among the major proposals on the table.

Similarly, President Bola Tinubu and several governors have also expressed support for the creation of state police, arguing it could help curb Nigeria’s lingering security challenges, including banditry, kidnappings, and other violent crimes.

However, in an interview with Channels Television on ‘Politics Today’, Gagdi said governors cannot be trusted with the power to control AK-47s at the state level when they cannot conduct a state-independent commission fairly, unlike at the national level, where the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) allows room for competitiveness.

He said, “No matter how you describe it, INEC has conducted elections in Nigeria where you have opposition governors.

“There is no election conducted by INEC that the opposition does not win more than 10 of the 36 states in the federation.

“But tell me one state in Nigeria where the state independent electoral commission conducts elections and you have two percent of the members of the legislative arm of government at the local government level. Mention one. Irrespective of APC and PDP, I am not talking about the party now.

“Mention one state governor who conducted an election, and you have two percent of the members of the local legislative council won by the opposition.

“Tell me one state, including my APC states, that you have one or two local government council chairmen that the opposition members win.

“It means, therefore, that you will rate INEC at the national level as more transparent and better than the state independent electoral commission.

“Now, if the governors cannot handle a state-independent commission fairly, how will you trust them with the power to control AK-47s at the state level? I am entitled to my opinion.

“If they cannot handle a state-independent electoral commission well and even allow opposition to win in a relatively fair election, but they take everything for themselves, strangling opposition, chasing and arresting and announcing the result they want to announce.

“This does not happen in a national election (election conducted by INEC). How do you give them (governors) state police?

“How do you think he (the governor) will use state police? If you give him (the governor) civil power to conduct elections and he uses it militarily, what if you give him military power?”

Gagdi emphasised that instead of creating state police, community policing, already recognised in the Police Act, should be strengthened.

“We have community policing in the present Police Act. Why can’t we strengthen the community policing? He asked.