The Governor of Zamfara State, Dauda Lawal, on Thursday revealed that he refused to pay a ransom of N300 million demanded by bandits who kidnapped his brothers seven years ago.
Mr Lawal, whose state is plagued by bandits’ activities, said he refused to pay ransom because it would embolden the kidnappers to continue with the crime.
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He spoke at the National Town Hall Meeting organised by ARISE TV in Abuja. The event was themed, “Building National Consensus for State Police and Security.”
The governor, who was a member of the panel of discussants, vowed never to negotiate with bandits or criminals from a position of weakness.
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“I will not negotiate from the place of weakness, and I will not pay ransom to any criminal, no matter what happens.
“By the time we continue to pay ransom to these people, we are encouraging them to be kidnapping people more and more.
“My own brothers were kidnapped in 2019, and these criminals were demanding at the time about N300 million. And I said, ‘Look, I’m not going to pay a dime.’ If you like, go and kill them,” the governor said, adding that he believed criminals would think twice about abducting people if ransom payments stopped.
While advocating for the creation of state police, Mr Lawal maintained that governors must possess operational control over security within their domains to be properly held responsible for protecting citizens and their property.
He noted that a major source of frustration for him is that he and other governors are the chief security officers of the states without holding any real command over the security apparatus.
“It is important to know that Zamfara State has been facing insecurity in the last 13 years. And we are being called the chief security officers of our respective states. However, the command and control structure is not under the governors.
“I am happy about the latest development about the state police because it allows us to keep our responsibilities and for our people also to hold us responsible as far as the security situation is concerned in our respective states.
“And that is why I have been part and parcel of the process and I strongly believe that by the time we have this state police in place, it will go a long way in solving the security challenges and we can now bear our name as proper chief security officers of our respective states. So, I am, for this,” he said.
For fear that it would be abused, Mr Lawal said there is no perfect system and all that needs to be done is to strengthen the legal framework for state police.
He said some states, including Zamfara, already have security outfits, and there are no reports that their governors use them to hunt opponents.
He said his administration created the Community Protection Guard (CPG) upon assuming office in 2023 and had never used it against anybody but to fight criminals.
“I don’t think there is any reason to fear that governors will abuse the process,” he stated.
The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ben Kalu, underscored the need to have state police in the country, noting that the laws that authorise the centralisation of policing in the country have failed its citizens.
“As parliament, which is the people’s house, we have consulted and we have found that there is a general consensus among Nigerians in the course of our public hearings that it is an issue that must be attended to.
“We must retool what we have currently as a structure that protects lives and property. So, we started with – how do we do it? Is it by unbundling it? Is it by taking it closer to the people? Is it by funding it more? What are the issues with the current structures that we have?” he said.
Mr Kalu, who chairs the House Committee on Constitution Review, said the legislature considered the issue of proximity of the police to the Nigerian people, hence it is considering the creation of state police.
On possible abuse, the deputy speaker said some safeguards have been put in place to ensure the governors or officials at the subnational level do not abuse it.
He added, “But many have argued that it will be abused, that the governors are going to abuse it. And the question I always ask – we currently have state high courts in various states of the federation. How many of these high courts have been used by the governors to jail those who are against them, maybe the opposition?”
The Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, said funding is key to sustaining state police once created. According to him, the institution must have fiscal independence because
He said, “If the state police is not well funded, it may as well be a highway to nowhere.
“It’s not only state actors or politicians that can abuse this. Business class, some other organisations, even criminals can abuse it, because he who pays the piper dictates the tune.
“We must have a situation where there will be some first-line provisions in our law. The police chief and the police service commission must have a guaranteed source of income in a way that it will not be subject to the whims and caprices of a sitting governor,” Mr Bamidele said.
Another panelist, Lucky Irabor, a former chief of defence staff (CDS), said there is a need to address some salient issues as soon as the state police comes on stream.
He said, “But then when they fully come on stream, the disease that has affected the federal police, we must do well to address the root causes of that disease so that it will not affect the state police. It is necessary for us to look at how the federal police is currently structured, the logistics, the equipment, the training and such other indicators.
“And for state police, I think training institutions have to be established; the protocols of training, among several other details, need to be specified. Otherwise, we will be having disparity on state police from state to state. So, for us to have a uniform structure for training as well as policing principles, it is good for us to have a designated establishment where, irrespective of the states, the troops will be trained and they go back to their states to implement what they have learnt.
“Also, within individual states, the recruitment within the state itself- how do we ensure that there will be adequate representation from each of the local government areas? What kind of individual will be recruited, and how do we ensure that we are not going to be recruiting criminals into the state police, among several other things?
Mr Irabor, a retired general, warned against the misconception that the state police will bring policing to the grassroots, noting that there are already police stations across the country, including villages.
Former Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole lamented that governors are called chief security officers of their states but do not have the power to control the police.
“There is inherent contradiction. The state governor is the chief security officer. How can I be a state security officer and I cannot control? It’s like calling me a husband and I have no wife. I think that over the ages people have realised that the system as it is isn’t working,” he said.
“In truth, the amount of money I had to spend to procure vehicles and communication gadgets as governor of Edo State was much more than the federal government vehicles that we had in Edo State. Unfortunately, my responsibility ends at procuring these vehicles. Where they are misused, they are mismanaged and I even suspect that they are stolen by those who are supposed to maintain them. I do not have the legal enablement to go beyond asking questions to enforcing discipline.”
On funding, Mr Oshiomhole, who represents Edo North in the Senate, said, “Nobody will be able to fund anything you do not believe in. Where we put money is a reflection of our values and our priorities. And the responsibility of a national government is to lay out these priorities and reflect the manner in which to allocate the resources to reflect those priorities.”
On abuse, while noting that it is not limited to any arm of government, the lawmaker said if any governor is found to misuse the state police, he or she should be voted out in the next cycle of elections.
A former member of the House of Representatives, Nnenna Elendu-Ukeje, said the process of creating state police has not been well thought out.
“I don’t think that it is a process that has been well thought through. There is a consensus that we need to devolve security down to the smallest level. Everybody agrees because policing is not what it should be. If you look at the policing, you must also look at the crimes the police are supposed to handle.
“Over the years, as we say, the Nigerian police is not doing the work that should be done; we must also interrogate the kind of crime that we expect the Nigerian police to do. What do we have in Nigeria now? We have terrorism, fundamentalism, we have banditry, we have illegal mining. In some places, we have a lot of police that have been killed alongside the military. A lot of police stations have been burnt in the South-east, where I come from,” she said.
Mrs Elendu-Ukeje raised the issue of funding, proliferation of arms, and the role of other security agencies like the civil defence, which she said must be addressed before state police is created.
“I think that the little nitty-gritty issues must be dealt with. It is something that has the potential, if not done properly, to create more problems,” the former lawmaker said.
A Security expert, Bukar Usman, emphasised the need to ensure the proper and adequate management of funds, noting that when funds meant for security purposes are not properly used, the problem is not the law but the human factor.
“My final statement is to emphasise the human factor; it is not the law which is the problem. A bad workman blames his tools.
“It is not also all a question of money. Money can be voted and abused and misappropriated. Is it applied in the proper way? I ask all the agencies provided by law: Are they properly constituted at all levels of governance? Do they meet regularly? Do they submit reports regularly? If there is any break in the chain of reporting, that is the area of weakness.
“Yes, money is required, but money can be misappropriated. If it is not properly accounted for, we cannot hide behind a lack of money to perform the duty,” he said.
Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra State, who joined the event virtually, supported the creation of state police but also called for a comprehensive restructuring of Nigeria’s federal system, saying the debate on state police should extend beyond security to include fiscal and judicial reforms.
Describing the growing support for state police as an inevitable step toward a more effective federal system, the governor said the debate had moved beyond whether Nigeria should establish state police, stressing that attention should now focus on the modalities for implementing the initiative.
According to him, security reforms should be complemented by broader constitutional changes.
Mr Soludo lamented what he described as the fiscal imbalance between the federal government and the states.
“More responsibilities have been transferred to states without a corresponding review of the revenue allocation formula. The federal government currently retains about 53 per cent of national revenue, while the 36 states share about 26 per cent, averaging less than one per cent per state.
“I’m advocating a leaner federal government with a maximum of 40 per cent share of national revenue, while more resources should be devolved to states to enable them to effectively discharge their constitutional responsibilities,” he said.
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The governor also called for reforms in the nation’s judicial system, describing it as a major obstacle to true federalism.
He noted that in spite of moves toward decentralised security, the judiciary remained largely unitary, resulting in prolonged litigation that often lasted for decades.
Mr Soludo demanded the establishment of state Courts of Appeal and state Supreme Courts to align the judiciary with the country’s federal structure.
Kogi Central Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, who was also a panelist, cautioned against the potential misuse of state police forces by state governments.
She maintained that the constitutional framework creating state policing must incorporate robust safeguards to prevent political interference and protect the fundamental rights of citizens.
“State police should never become an instrument of political oppression or executive intimidation. We must build a policing system that serves the people, protects democracy and remains accountable to the rule of law.
“Funding is one of the most important aspects the federal government must address. Without adequate and sustainable financing, state police will struggle to deliver on their constitutional responsibilities,” she stated.
Mrs Akpoti-Uduaghan also stressed the need to ensure that the police have the competency to react to situations without political interference.
Among dignitaries at the event were Governors Peter Mbah of Enugu State (who was also a panelist), Caleb Mutfwang (Plateau), Dapo Abiodun (Ogun), Minister of Defence Christopher Musa, and former Ogun governor Segun Osoba, while the guest speaker was Ehud Barak, a former prime minister of Israel. It was moderated by Arise TV’s Charles Aniagolu and Reuben Abati.
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