{"id":196176,"date":"2026-02-25T10:06:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T09:06:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/igp-must-be-shielded-from-politics-for-state-police"},"modified":"2026-02-25T11:10:56","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T10:10:56","slug":"igp-must-be-shielded-from-politics-for-state-police","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/igp-must-be-shielded-from-politics-for-state-police","title":{"rendered":"IGP Must Be Shielded From Politics for State Police"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>A constitutional lawyer and public affairs commentator, Justice Osai Ahiakwo, has warned that without insulating the Inspector-General of Police from political pressure, any move toward state-controlled policing may fail to deliver meaningful security.<\/p>\n<p>His reaction followed the resignation of former Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, and the appointment of Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Tunji Disu, as acting IGP by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.<\/p>\n<p>The President had, a day earlier, met with state governors and reaffirmed his administration\u2019s resolve to pursue the establishment of state police as part of broader efforts to strengthen Nigeria\u2019s security architecture.<\/p>\n<p>In a statement issued in Calabar, Ahiakwo said while leadership change at the top of the police hierarchy was significant, it did not automatically resolve deep-rooted structural and institutional weaknesses within the system.<\/p>\n<p>He urged the President, as the process of confirming a substantive Inspector-General begins, to prioritise discipline, merit and operational independence in the choice of leadership.<\/p>\n<p>According to him, the office of the Inspector-General must function strictly within the confines of the law and remain insulated from undue political interference.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt must also be accountable to established oversight bodies such as the Police Service Commission and the National Assembly,\u201d he said, warning that without such balance, neither a federal police structure nor a future state-controlled model can guarantee sustainable security.<\/p>\n<p>Ahiakwo argued that Nigeria\u2019s security crisis is fundamentally institutional rather than merely structural, cautioning against treating state police as a political concession or a response to sectional agitations.<\/p>\n<p>He stressed that any alteration of the policing framework must be weighed carefully against constitutional order, national unity and the integrity of command and control mechanisms.<\/p>\n<p>Under the 1999 Constitution (as amended), policing remains on the Exclusive Legislative List, with authority vested in the Federal Government \u2014 a centralised design intended to prevent the abuse of coercive power by sub-national actors.<\/p>\n<p>The lawyer maintained that instead of rushing to dismantle the existing framework, authorities should focus on strengthening it through professionalism, adequate funding and clearly defined lines of authority.<\/p>\n<p>He noted that the Nigeria Police Act, 2020 already provides a modern legal framework promoting accountability, community policing, professionalism and improved welfare, but lamented weak implementation, inconsistent funding discipline and wavering political will.<\/p>\n<p>Drawing comparisons with countries such as the United States, Germany and Japan, Ahiakwo said structural reforms alone would not suffice in a country where an overstretched police workforce is expected to secure over 200 million citizens, insisting that institutional discipline and respect for the rule of law must come first.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Nigeria<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. A constitutional lawyer and public affairs commentator, Justice Osai Ahiakwo, has warned that without insulating the Inspector-General of Police from political pressure, any move toward state-controlled policing may fail to deliver meaningful security. His reaction followed the resignation of former Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, and the appointment of Assistant Inspector-General of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":196175,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,29,14],"tags":[254],"class_list":["post-196176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-policy","tag-nigeria"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>IGP Must Be Shielded From Politics for State Police - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A constitutional lawyer and public affairs commentator, Justice Osai Ahiakwo, has warned that without insulating the Ins ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/igp-must-be-shielded-from-politics-for-state-police\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"IGP Must Be Shielded From Politics for State Police\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A constitutional lawyer and public affairs commentator, Justice Osai Ahiakwo, has warned that without insulating the Ins ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/igp-must-be-shielded-from-politics-for-state-police\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-25T09:06:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-25T10:10:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2026\/02\/sm_1772014235.178693.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/igp-must-be-shielded-from-politics-for-state-police#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/igp-must-be-shielded-from-politics-for-state-police\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"IGP Must Be Shielded From Politics for State Police\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-25T09:06:18+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-25T10:10:56+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/igp-must-be-shielded-from-politics-for-state-police\"},\"wordCount\":437,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/igp-must-be-shielded-from-politics-for-state-police#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2026\/02\/sm_1772014235.178693.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Nigeria\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/igp-must-be-shielded-from-politics-for-state-police#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/igp-must-be-shielded-from-politics-for-state-police\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/igp-must-be-shielded-from-politics-for-state-police\",\"name\":\"IGP Must Be Shielded From Politics for State Police - 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