State police: SAN calls for strong constitutional, legal, institutional safeguards

Mr Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, a Lagos-based Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), has called for strong constitutional, legal, and institutional safeguards to prevent the State Police from being used for political intimidation, electoral manipulation, and other forms of abuse.

In a paper captioned ‘Policing a Federal Democracy: Constitutional Principles and Institutional Safeguards for State Policing in Nigeria,’ the SAN insisted that the proposed decentralisation of policing should strengthen public safety and democratic governance rather than create new avenues for impunity.

Adegboruwa maintained that State Police will unavoidably play important roles during elections, thereby making political neutrality and operational independence critical components of any National Policing Bill.

The human rights advocate suggested safeguards including operational independence during elections, transparent deployment procedures, restrictions on political directives, mandatory coordination with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and other security agencies, as well as independent monitoring of election-related policing activities.

The SAN equally made a request for documented deployment decisions, public reporting on election-security operations and sanctions against police officers or political actors who misuse policing powers for partisan purposes.

The senior legal luminary reiterated that State Police should not become instruments for intimidating voters, harassing opposition parties or restricting lawful political activities.

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According to him, “Their role is to protect the electoral process, safeguard voters and maintain public order impartially,” even as he added that democratic legitimacy requires political neutrality.

The SAN equally contended that states seeking to establish police services should demonstrate sufficient financial and institutional capacity to pay salaries, maintain infrastructure, train personnel, procure equipment and sustain operations.

In the words of the senior counsel, policing institutions should be established on the basis of demonstrated fiscal capacity rather than political aspiration.

While proposing national firearms standards, digital weapons-tracking systems, armoury inspection protocols, mandatory firearms certification and ammunition accountability systems, Adegboruwa opined that strict weapons-management standards are imperative in view of concerns over the proliferation of small arms and light weapons.

The human rights lawyer recommended what he termed a State Readiness Certification Framework (RCF) under which states would be required to demonstrate minimum capacity in areas including fiscal sustainability, human-resource management, training infrastructure, independent complaints mechanisms, legislative oversight, digital records management, armoury controls and diversity safeguards before commencing State Police operations.

Adegboruwa suggested that institutional readiness should precede operational authority.

As it relates to the transition from the existing centralised policing structure to a dual federal and state policing system, the SAN Adegboruwa suggested a gradual and carefully managed process.