The African Democratic Congress has criticized the Tinubu administration’s handling of the state police bill, describing the sudden legislative push as a rushed and panicky response to Nigeria’s worsening security crisis.
While the party clarified that it has always supported decentralized policing to reflect the country’s federal system, it strongly rejected the government’s approach.
The opposition party argued that creating state police is too important to be reduced to a quick legislative fix without the broad public consultation and careful planning required to build an accountable institution.
In a press statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the party questioned the sincerity of the administration’s timing. The ADC pointed out that decentralized policing is an old conversation in Nigeria and accused the government of trying to package an existing national consensus as a bold new initiative to score cheap political points.
The party expressed worry that the bill is being presented as an immediate fix for today’s emergency, when in reality, structural changes take a long time to show results.
“After all, if President Tinubu were genuinely committed to state police, why did it take his administration almost until the end of its tenure to begin rushing through a constitutional amendment?” the party asked.
The ADC warned that simply passing a law in the National Assembly is the easiest part of a much more complex process. It noted that critical steps like recruitment, vetting, training, funding, and setting up command structures cannot be done overnight, especially with another election cycle drawing near.
The opposition party added that terrorists, bandits, and kidnappers will not stop their criminal activities while the government tries to assemble these new institutions.
“What we are witnessing is a hurried response to a worsening security crisis, not the careful institutional planning required to build a functional, accountable, and effective policing system,” the ADC stated.
“State police is too important, and the security of Nigerians too urgent, to be reduced to a quick legislative fix or rushed through the National Assembly without the broad consultation such a far-reaching reform demands.”
The party also raised critical questions about political safety and institutional balance that it claims the current legislation ignores. The ADC expressed concern over the lack of clear safeguards to stop governors from turning state police forces into tools for political intimidation, and questioned who would regulate recruitment or provide independent oversight.
Furthermore, the opposition group stated that state police should never be used as an excuse to avoid reforming the existing Nigeria Police Force, which will still hold the primary responsibility for national security and counterterrorism.
“Security is too serious to be treated as another political posturing,” the statement said.
“Nigerians deserve reforms that are carefully designed and institutionally sound, not reforms driven by political urgency or public relations considerations. The ADC will support measures that genuinely strengthen Nigeria’s security. But we will continue to oppose every attempt to substitute the hard work of building institutions capable of keeping Nigerians safe with mere political theatre.”