By Soni Daniel

Abuja—With governors of the Northern and Southern parts of Nigeria sharply divided over the issue of state police, the two sides have begun serious lobbying of their lawmakers to key into their positions on the controversial matter.

However, in a bid to ensure equity and fairness in arriving at an acceptable position on the matter, it was learnt that the National Assembly might adopt open ballot system during the vote to end the lingering controversy over the matter.

A member of the Constitution Amendment Committee of the National Assembly confirmed to Vanguard that many committee members had been approached by some governors to support the rejection or adoption of state police, depending on the region, when the matter comes for debate.

Although he did not say how many governors were involved in the lobby, the lawmaker stated that many of the members were under pressure from their governors to support their stance on the matter.

He said: “Certainly, many governors have been talking to our members to support their respective positions and there is nothing anyone can do because this is democracy. The issue of state police has, therefore, been given a top priority and is one of the major issues slated for constitutional amendment.

“The debate can be won and lost depending on the mood of the members of the National Assembly and the matter can go either way. In fact, the way I am seeing the arguments now, we may have a divided house on the matter, which means that each member will vote on it.

“This will have to be done to assuage the sharp division that has arisen between the northern and southern governors and among well-placed Nigerians.

“Even the President has spoken on the matter and everyone can see that it is an issue that is of utmost interest to most Nigerians and we must undoubtedly do something about it.”

The debate over state police has polarised the once powerful and united Nigerian Governors’ Forum, NGF, with the Northern governors rejecting the matter, which has been well accepted by their Southern counterparts as a panacea for ending security threats in the states.

Posted by admin on Sep 9 2012. Filed under House, Legislature, Senate. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry