A former Inspector General of Police have picked his nomination form and official joined the race for the Jigawa State Central Senatorial District race under the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Suleiman Abba made the declaration of interest at the National Secretariat of the APC in Abuja, on Monday.
The former IGP told newsmen that he was in the race to bring quality representation for his constituents and contribute meaningfully to national development.
Speaking after obtaining his nomination forms Monday in Abuja, Abba also added his voice to the debate on state policing, saying those advocating for that system are not sincere.
“I have a feeling and I don’t hide it that some people are looking for an opportunity to compound the security challenges of this country. I have nothing against state police like I said, having recommended it far back even when it was not a serious issue in this country. It looks like some people are looking for what they can use to compound the security situation in this country. Maybe we can continue to fine tune it, but I am not sure this is the right time.
While I was at NIPSS in 2009, I was assigned to conduct research on discipline in the Nigerian police, during the period, and looking at the performance of the police based on the research, I realized that there was the need to take another look at the structure of the police.
"In that research which is there for anybody to refer to, I recommended local government police. So, you can see that I have nothing against state police. I have had the opportunity of serving in all geopolitical zones of the country and have a fair knowledge of the country. “From what we see state governments passing through with the payment of salaries and pensions as well as taking care of qualitative education for our children; considering the fact that policing is a very expensive business; you need to for instance factor the cost of a helmet for the police, the protective jacket and other very expensive gadgets. Gadgets for monitoring are very expensive and if the states cannot pay salaries and take care of other socio-economic aspects of the people, why are they looking forward to shouldering this responsibility?”, he queried.