PRP Slams Tinubu’s State Police Bill, Citing ‘Credibility Deficit’

​The Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) has fiercely opposed the federal government’s fast-tracked move to establish state police, declaring that President Bola Tinubu’s administration lacks the moral authority and public trust required to oversee such a massive constitutional restructuring.

​The opposition party’s warning arrives at a critical legislative juncture. Just days ago, President Tinubu officially transmitted the constitutional amendment bill to the National Assembly, prompting an immediate response from lawmakers. The Senate has already passed the bill through its crucial initial stages, signaling a strong political momentum to decentralize the nation’s law enforcement.

​In a scathing statement issued by PRP National Chairman Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, the party argued that while Nigeria’s escalating security crisis desperately demands an institutional overhaul, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) cannot be trusted with the keys to state-level policing. The party pointed to what it described as an unprecedented low in credibility and competence under the current administration.

ADVERTISEMENT

​”The APC administration has failed to manage our existing security structure and institutions,” Baba-Ahmed stated. “Its plan to engineer the emergence of State Police is suspicious and should be rejected by Nigerians.”

​The debate over state police has sharply divided the country’s political landscape. Proponents, including several state governors and regional socio-cultural groups, argue that localized policing is the only viable remedy for Nigeria’s rampant banditry, kidnapping, and insurgency. They maintain that local officers possess the vital territorial intelligence that the federal police force lacks.

​Conversely, critics and opposition figures share the PRP’s anxieties, fearing that state governors will inevitably weaponize local police forces to suppress political opponents, rig regional elections, and tyrannize critics.

​Fearing these exact vulnerabilities, the PRP has urged the National Assembly and the public to halt the amendment process. The party proposed that any monumental structural shift to the country’s policing system should be paused and tested against public consensus during the next general elections cycle, rather than rushed through by the current government.

​As the bill heads toward further legislative scrutiny and eventual debates in the State Houses of Assembly—where it requires a two-thirds majority to succeed—the battle lines are officially drawn between immediate security decentralization and deep-seated political distrust.