Summon Immediate Meeting of Nigerian Police Council

Governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, have called on President Muhammadu Buhari to urgently meet the Nigerian Police Council, NPC, and deliberate on measures to curb security challenges facing the country.

This was communicated in a meeting of the PDP Governors Forum which held in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital. The Governors further asked the president to send an executive bill to the National Assembly on a constitutional amendment to devolve more powers to federating states, particularly in the area of security.

 In a communiqué signed by the chairman of the forum, Aminu Tambuwal, governor of Sokoto State, the governors supported the ban on open grazing, opting for the establishment of ranches to put an end to farmers-herdsmen.

The communiqué read thus:  “The President should summon an immediate meeting of the Nigerian Police Council, which comprises Mr. President and all state governors and other critical stakeholders to evolve and implement strategies to combat the present threats to our union, especially with respect to policing.

“The meeting agreed that the Police Force still remains the appropriate institution to secure our democracy and should not be subjected to personal attacks. The welfare, training, equipment, funding of all security agencies should be given priority.

“The meeting called on Mr. President as the Chief Executive Officer of Nigeria and Commander-in-Chief of Nigerian Armed Forces to immediately send an executive bill to the National Assembly to amend the Nigerian Constitution to devolve more powers to the states with respect to security arrangements culminating in some form of state policing and the general security architecture.

“The meeting supports the earlier positions taken by the Nigeria Governors Forum, Northern Governors Forum and recently by the Southern Governors Forum to adopt ranching as the most viable solution to the herders/farmers clashes in Nigeria; the restructuring of the Nigerian federation to devolve more powers and functions to the States, and reform of various civil institutions to achieve efficiency and equity for all sections of Nigeria.

“The meeting enjoins all Nigerians to work together to achieve peace and harmony with one another, devoid of discrimination based on ethnicity, religion, and other cleavages. To this end, the meeting called on the All Progressives Congres, APC government to take bold and deliberate steps to de-escalate and lower tensions in our country, and concentrate on projects and policies that will enhance and promote national unity and cohesion.

“The meeting re-iterated our earlier call for the National Assembly to expedite action on the passage of the Electoral Act that will ensure a free and fair election, including provisions for electronic accreditation and electronic transmission of votes.

“The meeting thanked the host governor, Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State for being a gracious and wonderful host, and congratulated him for the many landmark developmental projects he has executed, and urged him to continue to work with all stakeholders in the South-West Zone to ensure that PDP takes over the majority of the states in the zone.”