SENATOR GARBA MAIDOKI HAS ACCUSED PRESIDENT TINUBU OF POLITICIZING THE STATE POLICE PROPOSAL AHEAD OF TGE 2027 ELECTIONS

By Olayiwola Ibrahim // The Kebbi South lawmaker questioned why the bill was introduced now and argued that senators were not given enough time to properly review the 146-page document before voting.

Senator Garba Maidoki has accused President Bola Tinubu of turning the state police debate into a political project ahead of the 2027 presidential election.

Speaking on a television programme before the Senate’s consideration of the bill, Maidoki questioned both the timing and process surrounding the proposed constitutional amendment to establish state police across Nigeria.

The senator said lawmakers received the 146-page draft bill only a day before it was scheduled for debate and voting, arguing that such an important constitutional amendment required broader consultation and careful review.

According to him, lawmakers, legal experts, and constituents were not given sufficient time to study the document before deliberations.

This is a 146-page draft bill. I’m not a lawyer.

Good practice requires that the final draft be shown to those who made presentations during the public hearing so they can determine whether their views were captured, he said.

Maidoki expressed concern that the legislation was being rushed through the National Assembly, claiming senators had little opportunity to thoroughly examine its provisions before voting.

The lawmaker stated that he intended to oppose the bill on principle, maintaining that major constitutional changes should undergo wider scrutiny before passage.

Beyond procedural concerns, the senator also questioned whether the proposal would significantly improve Nigeria’s security situation.

Asked if he believed the state police initiative would help tackle insecurity, Maidoki responded that he was not convinced.

He argued that if the federal government viewed state police as a critical solution, the proposal should have been pursued much earlier in the administration’s tenure rather than close to another election cycle.

We’ve been there for three years, crying and complaining about insecurity.

Now, with less than a year before the election cycle intensifies, that is when you want to change the constitution, implement state police, and make Nigeria safe? It’s very suspicious, he said.

Maidoki suggested that the timing of the proposal could create the impression that politics is influencing a policy issue that should be driven solely by security concerns.

The state police proposal has generated intense debate across the country, with supporters arguing that decentralised policing would improve local intelligence gathering and response to crime, while critics fear it could be abused by state governments for political purposes.

The Senate has since passed the constitutional amendment bill, which will still require approval from the House of Representatives and endorsement by the required number of state Houses of Assembly before becoming law.