Tinubu rushing State Police Bill to mask security failures

The African Democratic Congress, ADC, has accused President Bola Tinubu's administration of rushing the State Police Bill through the National Assembly as a panicky political move to create the illusion of tackling Nigeria's worsening insecurity. In a statement issued on Friday, the party's National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, described the bill as a hurried response to a deepening crisis, not a carefully planned constitutional reform.

The ADC said what we are witnessing is not the careful institutional planning required to build a functional policing system, but a government trying to repackage a long-standing national consensus as a bold new initiative. They also questioned why the Tinubu administration waited until almost the end of its tenure to pursue state police if it was genuinely committed to the reform. Passing a law alone will not resolve banditry, kidnapping or terrorism — recruitment, training, funding, command structures, intelligence coordination, judicial oversight and correctional reforms are all critical elements that cannot be built overnight.

So the question is simple: if this government was serious about state police, why did they wait five years to push it? And if they are not serious, what exactly are they trying to distract us from?