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Over the past couple of weeks, lots of events have taken tolls on Nigeria as a country which have raised the bar of consciousness in this country, especially in the tensed atmosphere the country has been for both the citizens living in Nigeria and the ones in diaspora.
In this cause of making sure there is good governance and security for the citizenry, Nigerian youth took out to the street to make a public demand from the Nigerian Government to scrap the unscrupulous and extrajudicial acts of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) through massive peaceful protests which held in some of the states in the country for more than two weeks.
During the cause of the protest, diverse claims have been made both by the random citizens and some stakeholders in the country through different social media platforms.
For instance, AllNews reports that a claim was made by the governor of Oyo state, Seyi Makinde regarding police brutalities.
On October 10th, 2020 at 7: 24 pm, Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde on his verified Twitter handle @seyimakinde made a claim in respect of the exclusiveness of the Nigerian Police Force from the state governors.
Makinde tweeted to address the citizens of Oyo State and to sympathize with the family of a young Nigerian, Jimoh Isiaq who was killed by a stray bullet of men of the Nigerian Police Force that were restraining the peaceful protesters in Ogbomosho, Oyo State.
Makinde particularly emphasized and complained bitterly about the state government’s lack of necessary power to control the Nigeria Police Force which could be one of the reasons behind police brutalities in the nation.
He tweeted "It again calls into question why Governors are called Chief Security Officers of their states, whereas they do not have necessary powers to control the Police Force".
According to the Nigeria Police 1943 Act, the Nigeria Police Force is structured rigidly based on the enforced command structure which is on a chain of command of order and directive.
This implies that the highest-ranking officer of the Nigerian Police Force which is the Inspector General of Police (IG), is the major order giver that must be fully obeyed by any junior officer, from the Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) to the last officer.
Moreover, any junior officer who defies the highly revered chain of command will surely be punished according to the code of ethics of the force.
With that, it basically means that the Inspector General of Police controls the affairs and the operations of the Police force as the constituted authority.
According to Section 214 (1) of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, “There shall be a Police Force in Nigeria, which shall be known as the Nigeria Police Force, and subject to the Provision of this section, no other police force shall be established for the federation or any part thereof”.
The implication of the aforementioned quotation is that the police is basically established based on the pedestal of federal jurisdiction alone and there is no other policing that can exist while the Nigeria Police Force is functioning.
Furthermore, section 215(3) of the 1999 constitution of Nigeria also corroborates the president of the country as the only authorized and the only higher commander than the Inspector General of Police in the Nigeria Police Force.
The section reads “The President or such other Minister of the Government of the Federation as he may authorize in that behalf to give the Inspector General of Police such lawful direction with respect to the maintenance and securing of public safety and public order as he may consider necessary, and the Inspector – General of Police shall comply with those directions are cause them to be complied with”
It is noteworthy that, by extension, section 216(2) of the constitution places the Nigeria Police Council at the advisory position to the president, should in case the president decides to appoint or remove the Inspector General of Police.
Meanwhile, in line with section 153 (1) (N) of the Nigeria Police Council (NPC), the NPC is made up of the President, the State Governors, chairman of the police service commission, and the Inspector General of Police.
Nigeria as a nation practices federalism, but the system of operating this kind of government has so empowered the federal government with the exclusive list through the constitution to act solely on some of the major sectors in the country.
In that vein, the role of security of this country has been put on the federal government alone in which the Nigeria Police Force is inclusive.
More so, the police department and its affairs feature actively on the list.
Unlike the concurrent lists which express the power of the state government and its jurisdiction and functionalities, the exclusive list is rigidly restricted to the purview of the federal government alone and unequivocally restricts the necessary powers the state governments can wield on policing in Nigeria.
It was a legal practitioner, Hussein Afolabi who expressly backed this claim.
Afolabi alluded to the 1943 police Act to explicate the exclusiveness of the Nigeria Police Force from the state government's authority.
He said “according to the constitution and the police act of the federal republic of Nigeria, all police officers are only answerable to the Inspector General of Police while the Inspector General of Police reports to the President.
"So that concludes everything with their chain of command."
Ebunoluwa Coker, another legal Practitioner, in her stance explains the restriction of the Police Force which was established by the act of the National Assembly to the federal government alone as the reason why state governments are restricted.
She said, “The Nigeria Police is established by an Act of National assembly. It is a body controlled by the federal government and thus not within the control of the state government.”
She further added that “Until we have State Police in Nigeria which most people are clamouring for, the Police remains under the direct control of the federal government."
READ ALSO: Fake News And Nigeria's EndSARS Crisis (FACT CHECKS)
The claim that Nigeria State Governors do not have the necessary powers on the Nigeria Police Force as made by Makinde is true.
Based on the structure of the Nigeria Police Force according to the 943 Nigeria Police Act, the whole orders and directives come from the Inspector General of Police who is only answerable to the President or a Minister of the Federal government as stipulated by the Constitution and by extension the exclusive list.
Despite that fact, the governors constitute the Nigeria Police Council which only takes an advisory role.
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