By Olawale Abdul-Fatah
Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has joined other Nigerians supporting establishment of South-West security outfit tagged Amotekun, urging other regions confronted by insecurity to adopt strategies that will assure protection of lives and property.
Atiku stated that current policing structures have been overstretched to its limits, leading to its inability to respond appropriately to security upheaval witnessed across the country.
While arguing that since the country failed to recalibrate its police systems, the former Vice president, in a statement on Sunday signed by his Special Adviser on media and publicity, Paul Ibe, noted that there was hardly any state or region that does not presently contend with some type security challenges.
“It is obvious that current levels of insecurity in the country are giving rise to major initiatives such as Amotekun and the issue need not be controversial in the first place.
“Our security challenges are diverse in forms and impacts, it is thus incumbent that centrally controlled police architecture cannot exclusively deal with those challenges.
“Consequently, there is need for the creation of additional policing structures in the country to address the rapidly growing challenges of insecurity and crime.
“The time is ripe to seriously confront the reality of insecurity in the country by addressing the urgency of introducing state police, zonal police and community policing to complement the efforts of the current federal police”, Atiku added.
According to him, police are likely to be more effective if they constantly operate in the same local community or local government because such closeness might create a bond with the local people, thereby enabling community cooperation and participation that would engender proactive outcomes in crime prevention.
“It is a given perception that when people have a role in their own security, they are going to help to defeat the criminal in their tracks and that the more they are involved, the more likely they would perceive the police as their friends.
“In the envisage new order, states and local governments shouldn’t be reduced to peripheral players in policing and security matters. When local police structures are closest to the grassroots, emergency response will be more effective than the current unwieldy chain of command that renders local government chairmen ineffective when their people are under attacks.
“As a matter of fact, it is refusing to adopt new ways of doing things that poses a threat to the unity of the country.
“Therefore, I supports Community, State and Zonal Police to complement Federal Police to deal with insecurity in the country. It has never been this bad to the extent of threatening the unity of the country.”
