Lagos assembly faults IGP’s stance over state police
The Lagos house of assembly has rejected the opposition of the Inspector-general of police Kayode Egbetokun to the formation of a state police.
At the plenary on Monday, Speaker of the assembly, Mudashiru Obasa, said that the state favoured the initiative to set up its own police to curb crimes.
Obasa, said, “In Lagos state, we have the security trust fund through which successive administrations, starting from that of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu have provided enormous support to the police command in Lagos state. Yet, crime of different dimensions has continued,” the speaker said.
“This shows that no matter what Egbetokun has proffered as a solution, such won’t solve our problem. The position of the IGP is unacceptable.
“We strongly believe that if we have state police, we would be able to solve the issues of crime in our nation or reduce it to the minimum.
“As we have seen in other climes, the United Kingdom has different levels of policing just like the United States of America. So why should ours be different?
“The lives of our people are very important and we must do everything possible to make sure we protect lives and property.
“We want to state categorically that we believe in state police and we want to urge the national assembly to continue with its intendment to establish state police through the process of constitutional amendment.”
Obasa, after the debate, asked the clerk of the assembly to write to IGP conveying the position of the state to him.
