STATE POLICE: SENATE GIVES SIX ASSEMBLIES NOV 15 DEADLINE
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The Senate has granted the six State Houses of Assembly that have not yet sanctioned the proposed creation of state police forces a deadline of November 15 to articulate their stances, cautioning that any failure to respond by this date will be construed as an implicit withholding of approval.
Following a briefing by Senate Leader Senator Opeyemi Bamidele during Wednesday’s plenary session, it was confirmed that thirty out of the thirty-six state assemblies had ratified the proposed constitutional amendment.
Although the tally of 30 approvals has surpassed the constitutionally mandated two-thirds supermajority of 24 state assemblies, Senate President Godswill Akpabio has requested an extension of time, seeking to ascertain the stances of the six remaining assemblies before concluding the process.
Akpabio said any assembly that failed to respond by the November 15 deadline would be deemed to have withheld its approval.
“They should be given more time. Let’s give them till November 15 to respond,” he said.
The Senate unanimously supported his appeal.
Earlier, Bamidele read out the names of the 30 state assemblies that had approved the bill.
They are Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Borno, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Ekiti, Enugu, Gombe, Imo, Jigawa, Kaduna, Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Lagos, Nasarawa, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Plateau, Rivers, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe and Zamfara.
Bamidele noted that the count of approvals had exceeded the constitutional threshold, which mandates a two-thirds majority of the 36 state assemblies, a figure corresponding to 24 states.
According to the Senate Leader, the amendment mechanism unfolds in three distinct phases: initial ratification by the National Assembly, subsequent endorsement by a supermajority comprising at least two-thirds of the state assemblies, and final concurrence through the President’s assent.
He explained that the bill‘s progression followed a specific constitutional trajectory: it was initially enacted by the national assembly, a step that had already been accomplished; subsequently, approval requires the affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of the country‘s 36 state houses of assembly; finally, the process is concluded only upon the president granting assent.
This proposed amendment aims to amend the 1999 Constitution to facilitate the creation of state–level police services, representing a pivotal security reform intended to decentralize law enforcement and empower state governments to establish and administer their own distinct policing frameworks.
This initiative is poised to confront persistent apprehensions regarding the constraints of the centralized policing framework, specifically its efficacy in curbing insecurity throughout the nation‘s heterogeneous communities.
The constitutional amendment process mandates that a bill secure the approval of at least two-thirds of the state assemblies prior to its submission to the President for assent.
With 30 assemblies already on board, the Senate’s decision to extend the deadline is intended to allow the remaining six states to complete the process before the amendment is transmitted for presidential consideration.
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