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Lt-Gen Alani Akinrinade
…Wants Amotekun to develop into state police
By Shina Abubakar
Retired military officer, General Alani Akinrinade has said security architecture should not be exclusively control by the Federal Government, as efforts to secure the nation should be community driven rather than using a centralized structure.
Speaking in his country in Ife-North Local Government at the weekend while hosting the Special Adviser to Governor Adegboyega Oyetola on Civil Engagement, Hon. Olatunbosun Oyintiloye, Akinrinade said the regional security outfits should metamorphose into state police for effective delivery in the security system of the nation.
He said the FG should not monopolise control of security agencies at the expense of other federating units, which should for the sake of proximity should have an input in the structure.
“Policing system in every country is naturally meant to be driven through community structures for excellent and effective intelligence gathering which is the onus of security system.
“Central government should not exclusively control security institutions as other components, especially in a federation should be inclusive because of the essence of proximity in the policing system.
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“The centralization of security system by the federal government which brings about the enlistment of non indigenous personnel into the policing structure of a state as against the use of indigenous individuals like the case of foreign countries, has rendered Nigeria’s policing system ineffective and unproductive.
The elder statesman also stressed the need for the Federal Government to accommodate state police by allowing all the regional security outfits such as Amotekun in the south-west, Hisbah in the north, among others, to metamorphose into state policing structures.
while saying that policing structure is a dynamic phenomenon, which must conform with contemporary circumstances.
He emphasised that Nigeria as a nation need to put a stop to any kind of suspicion due to agitation for state policing, saying the county only need institutional and constitutional mechanism to checkmate the arbitrary use of state policing structures.
