By Cynthia Alo
A chieftain of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, Kenneth Okonkwo, has accused President Bola Tinubu of deliberately stalling state police implementation to enable his administration to deploy security forces to allegedly manipulate the 2027 general elections.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily, he dismissed the Inspector General of Police-led committee on state police implementation, insisting the process required nothing beyond a National Assembly amendment to Section 214 of the constitution, a task, he argued, that has no business on the desk of the police hierarchy.
He said: “Tinubu does not want state police until after the election so that he will use federal police to intimidate and manipulate the opposition so that there won’t be any resistance when they want to rig elections.
“The IGP has no business in this process. His business is to implement the executive orders from the president and implement the laws from the National Assembly. They should stop playing politics with the lives of Nigerians.
“It is sad enough that people are dying, and it is terrible that the president is playing politics with it. The IGP has no business in the process that will give us state police; that is pure politics.”
On insecurity, Okonkwo outlined ADC’s security plan under its presidential candidate, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, built on mass recruitment, asymmetric warfare training, modern equipment, welfare for security personnel, and strengthened inter-agency coordination.
He dismissed the current administration’s approach as dangerously inadequate.
“What prevents every state from having helicopter and a drone spying on these people from the air, then deploying special forces each time they locate them in the forest?” he asked.
“We don’t have an insecurity problem. What we have is incompetent and corrupt leaders. When good leaders come in, Nigerian problems can be wiped out in six months. That I can assure you.”
He also cited the recent rescue of the sister and twins of a former Minister of Power in Oyo State as evidence that Nigerian security agencies were capable of decisive action when properly motivated and equipped.
He further argued that governors could not be expected to independently combat insecurity without state police backing, warning that any governor who deploys unapproved force risks federal government reprisal.
“If you do not give a governor state police, then the governor is blackmailable,” he said.
On local government dysfunction as a contributor to insecurity, Okonkwo blamed the federal-state fiscal architecture, noting that by the time federation account allocations filter through state governments to councils, little beyond salaries remains.
“A structural problem is what we have in this country. When we restructure, we will have the beautiful thing that we need,” he said.
On the state of the opposition coalition ahead of 2027, Okonkwo maintained that the ADC remained the legitimate platform for opposition forces, describing those who decamped to the NDC as “renegades,” and insisting that the coalition continued to flourish despite what he called attempts by the APC to “legislate and litigate” the party out of existence.
