Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele has disclosed that the National Assembly will this week pass the constitutional amendment bill seeking the establishment of state police, describing the move as a necessary response to Nigeria’s worsening security challenges.
Speaking in an interview with journalists, the senator representing Ekiti Central said lawmakers had concluded consultations with key stakeholders and resolved to separate the state police proposal from the broader constitutional review process to ensure its speedy passage.
According to Bamidele, the amendment bill would be transmitted to the 36 state Houses of Assembly immediately after its passage, noting that approval by at least two-thirds of the state legislatures would be required before it is forwarded to President Bola Tinubu for assent. He added that the President and most state governors support the initiative.
The Senate leader also defended the upper chamber’s decision to reject calls for a public probe of military spending, arguing that subjecting the armed forces to such scrutiny in the middle of an ongoing war against terrorism and banditry would be counterproductive and unpatriotic.
Bamidele maintained that the military remained accountable through the Senate committees on Defence, Army, Navy and Air Force, which regularly conduct oversight and inspect military procurements. He insisted that sensitive security operations could not be openly debated without undermining the country’s counter-terrorism efforts.
Addressing criticisms that the 10th National Assembly had become a rubber stamp for the executive arm, Bamidele said the legislature had deliberately adopted a strategy of resolving disagreements with the presidency behind closed doors rather than through public confrontations. He argued that such cooperation reflected statesmanship rather than weakness.
On complaints by senators who lost party primaries, Bamidele said Senate President Godswill Akpabio acted appropriately by conveying their concerns to the leadership of the All Progressives Congress, stressing that the matter was part of the responsibilities of the National Assembly leadership and not a personal intervention.
