TheCable

Yabagi Sani, presidential candidate of the Action Democratic Party (ADP), says the creation of regional police will be a recipe for the country’s breakup.

Speaking on Sunday at a town hall meeting for presidential candidates organised by Arise Television, Sani said if he is elected in 2023, his administration will not approve the creation of regional police in the country.

There have been calls for state police following widespread insecurity across the country, but President Muhammadu Buhari had rejected the idea, saying it was not an option for the nation.

“As a government, I would not allow the regional police that were formed out of desperation. If you do that, it’s a recipe for disbandment of the country itself because these security outfits came out of frustration. It was not something that was discussed on the basis of the need to have it as a nation,” Sani said.

“So, I will not allow that to happen. What I will do is to allow the constitution to take its course, meaning that if you look at the constitution of the country, it’s a living document.

“The national assembly members are supposed to whenever the need arises do the needful, which is to either look at the exclusive legislative list of the constitution and take what does not belong there anymore because of time that has passed and things have changed and put it on concurrent list like the state police we are talking about.

“The national assembly should deal with that, not frustrated segments of the country bringing out their own security outfit.

“Those will be outfits that will be antagonising the national security that you are trying to solve, which means it is a wrong way to go.”