Allow Amotekun, Hisbah, others transform to state police – Akinrinade

A former Chief of Defence Staff, Lt . Gen. Alani
Akinrinade (retd . ) , has advised the Federal
Government to allow regional security outfits to
transform into state police.
He , however , recommended that institutional and
constitutional mechanism be put in place to check
arbitrary use of the state policing structures. Akinrinade spoke on Saturday in his Yakoyo, Osun
State country home , while receiving a team from the
state Ministry of Information and Civic Engagement ,
led by the Special Adviser to Governor Adegboyega
Oyetola on Civic Engagement , Mr Olatunbosun
Oyintiloye .
In a statement by Oyintiloye on Sunday titled : ‘ Security
should be community – driven – Gen. Akinrinade ’ , made
available to The PUNCH in Osogbo, the ex – CDS
commended efforts of regional security outfits in
tackling security challenges facing the country , adding
that efforts to secure the nation should be community –
driven rather than being based on a centralised
structure .
Akinrinade emphasised the need for the Federal
Government to embrace state police “ by giving the
leverage for all regional security outfits such as
Amotekun in the South – West and Hisbah in the North,
among others , to metamorphose into state policing
structures. ”
Reacting to the move to subsume the Amotekun
security initiative under community policing of the
Nigeria Police Force , the elder statesman said a state
should not be expected to use its resources to run a
policing system that was not exclusively under its
supervision .
He suggested that a state should be allowed to use its
resources for its own policing arrangement backed up
by legislative enactment .