State Police comes by Act of parliament, not presidential approval—Lawyer
Whereas the Presidency has said until a white paper is produced on the recommendations of the 2804 page-report from the Presidential Panel on the Reform of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), State Police remains an idea, a Lagos lawyer, Barr Ben Amadi, has argued that “Only an Act of parliament can legitimize State Police”.
Before now, several analysts had misconstrued presidential comments while receiving the Report to mean welcoming State Police, Amadi noted that “what the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has just done is to submit its report and Mr President equally made it clear that the report would be studied by another body with the aim of coming up with a Whitepaper”.
“Like I said earlier, it is only when the Whitepaper had been submitted to the National Assembly as an executive bill, considered, passed and sent to President Buhari for assent will we say that State Police has become a legal institution in Nigeria,” Amadi averred.
Recall that while receiving the report, Buhari said “I want to thank the panel once more, and hereby direct that since the recommendations of the commission that constituted the panel are enforceable as decisions of the court, that the Inspector General of Police and the Solicitor General of the Federation/Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Justice meet with the Commission to work out the modalities for the implementation of the Report within 3 months from today.”
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, in a statement also noted in a statement that “President Buhari’s specific directive is that a three-man panel be set up to produce the white paper.
“The report of the white paper committee will form the basis of the decisions of the government on the many recommendations, including the setting up of state and local government police made by the Tony Ojukwu panel.
“Until a white paper is produced, it will be premature and pre-emptive to suggest that the recommendations contained in the report have been approved by the president in part or whole.”
