Akpabio Supports Community Policing

Senator Godswill Akpabio, former Miniority leader in the Nigerian Senator, threw his weight behind states owing their own police. He cautioned that those in authority should not abuse it. He was speaking on a television programme in one of the national TV stations last week. He said “I think that we must have a number of checks and balances and then bring up a legislation that would ensure that whoever is in charge, whether you are the chief executive, you are serving with responsibility, that you don’t use it to go after your opponent”. Again, he dwelt on the need to properly train the police in this capacity in order to avoid unpowered consequences. In his word, “you will be having a lot of accidental discharges here and there if the personnel’s are not well trained in handling weapons”. 

Policing has not been proactive in the country but when you set up this system we are talking about the will to be proactive in policing. And this would help the country instead of reactive policing. “Reactive policing is like a policing that after victims of crime have been wiped out, over a hundred people have been killed for instance, then the police would now arrive and even the police that are coming would be afraid to approach the scene immediately because you don’t know who is who”. Almost like the gorilla war where your opponent knows you are a police officer and you don’t know the opponent, you have to approach him with caution.

Published in maiden edition, Lens Newspapers Vol. 1 No. 10.