By Wilbet Ijeoma
In the wake of fear and protests in Nigerian societies nowadays as a result of the unbridled rampage of terrorists and armed bandits against unsuspecting Nigerians, there’s been resonating calls for state policing
Most times, these mayhems were unleashed at home in the twilight and when locals called for help, the nearest federal police unit was often hours and miles away, making the local communities defenceless.
The Nigeria Police Force, centrally controlled from Abuja, was responsible for security across the vast Nigeria territory. Yet with rising threats—banditry in the northwest, insurgency in the northeast, kidnappings, armed robbery, farmer‑herder clashes, and now police brutality against unarmed Nigerians—many communities felt the central policing system has outlived its era.
On April 26, 2026, a 28-year-old upcoming musician and plumber named Mene Ogidi (also known as OG Million) was reported to have been extrajudicially killed by a police officer ASP Usman Nuhu in Effurun, near Warri, Delta State, after which the officer and members of his team were also reported to have been dismissed and facing investigation/prosecution.
Following the uproar and civil unrest sparked by this unprofessional act of the Police in Delta State, 1,332 police officers including 50 senior officers were reported to have been redeployed away from Delta at the behest of the Inspector General of Police. Most of these officers recently deployed have been serving in their former posting for decades, some of whom are locals in the localities while others localized and got acquired with the people.
*The big question is whether the mass exodus or redeployment of police officers in Delta State is the panacea to extrajudicial killing.*
*The exodus of police officers in Delta State was met with criticism, whether it does not ultra vires the Billl for an Act of State Policing already before the National Assembly.*
Officers posted far from their home states often struggled to understand the language, terrain, and local dynamics of the communities they were meant to fight against crimes and protect lives and properties.
Across Nigeria, common conversation is taking place. Scholars, politicians, and civil society groups began discussing a major reform: **state policing**—a system where each state would manage its own police force alongside the federal one. Supporters argued that local authorities could respond faster and address region‑specific crimes more effectively.
The debate soon reached the national stage where President Bola Ahmed Tinubu publicly expressed support for establishing state police as part of efforts to improve national security. Many analysts believed that decentralizing policing could strengthen Nigeria’s federal system and help address growing insecurity across different regions.
On the other hand, critics worried that State Governors might misuse local police forces for political purposes to suppress opponents. Others questioned whether all states had the financial wherewithal and institutional capacity to run their own forces effectively.
However, the call for state policing seems to have a superior argument as regional reviews have been held in 2025 by the National Assembly on the subject matter.
But with the ripples of mass redeployment of officers in Delta State, there seems to be a retrogression to the call and push for state policing, since the redeployed officers would be duty bound to relocate and serve in other states of non-origin where they have to face the burden of learning new culture and a new people.
This superior knock on mass redeployment of police, especially being a retrogression and counterproductive to the call for state policing, entreats a review of the redeployment order.
Against the backdrop of the recent extrajudicial killing in Delta State which was reported to have triggered the redeployment of police, resources, both human and capital, should rather be channeled to training and retraining of officers on police code of conducts and equip them to function effectively in the localities where they have greater comparative advantage.
