State police best for Nigeria – Benue monarch

A Benue monarch, His Royal Highness, Chief Oga Ero, the Adirahu Ny’Igede I, has urged the federal government to adopt state police in order to tackle the level of insecurity in the various parts of the country.
Speaking when members of the Interfaith Dialogue Forum for Peace (IDFP) paid a visit to him in his palace in Oju yesterday, the Igede monarch said, taking the peculiar nature of the country into cognisance, it has become imperative for states to recruit their own police in order to effectively tackle their peculiar security challenges.
According to him, “There is the urgent need for states to recruit their own police in order to get to the roots of insecurity confronting some parts of the country.
“That is the only means of getting indigenes involved in the security management of our nation.
Policing is local and when you have people who know the area very well and have their ears to the ground, then you can be sure to be on top of the security situation at all times.
“State police does not mean the absence of federal Police for quick intervention when necessary.
It means getting the community members to be part of security.
We urgently need to implement the state police policy to stave off further attacks on our communities.” The royal father, who is a retired police commissioner, disclosed that the Igede kingdom has been living peacefully with herdsmen without any form of clashes, apart from a recent incident that was quickly nipped in the bud.
“The Igede Kingdom has been peaceful and without any form of tension.
Apart from an incident where a Fulani man killed a girl and which we quickly intervened, we have not had any form of trouble.
And when we quickly intervened to calm frayed nerves, everything was taken care of,” declared the monarch.
He called on the federal and state government to always intervene quickly on issues of security challenge before it gets out of control, adding the security of lives is the paramount responsibility of the government.
Commending members of the IDFP advocacy team for taking out their time to visit his palace, the monarch promised to avail the forum of all necessary assistance in order to bring lasting peace to Benue and other states bedeviled by crises.
Speaking earlier, the Head of the IDFP advocacy team to Benue state, Alhaji Ibrahim Yahaya, said the advocacy team was in the state on a fact-finding mission and to also collaborate with relevant stakeholders for the restoration of peace to the troubled state.
Also speaking, Nigeria’s Country Expert for Vienna-based King Abdulaziz International Centre for Inter-religious and Inter-cultural Dialogue (KAICIID Dialogue Centre), Joseph Atang, thanked the monarch for finding time to share his views to the group.