The Nigerian Senate has stated that the federal parliament is ready to review the constitution to accommodate state police, provided the decentralization of the security system ends insecurity.
President Bola Tinubu, at a meeting with state governors on Thursday, approved the constitution of a committee to explore the modalities for the establishment of state police.
The police are currently on the exclusive legislative list in the constitution, barring state governments from establishing state police.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio had, earlier this week, constituted a 45-member committee to further review the 1999 constitution. The panel will be inaugurated next Tuesday.
The Senate spokesperson, Yemi Adaramodu, said in an interview with newsmen in Abuja on Friday that the Senate was ready to read the body language of Nigerians and come up with laws that would make lives meaningful to residents.
He said, “The parliament is to make laws, and the laws that the parliament will make will not be generated outside of the interests and aspirations of Nigerians.
“So, if either the federal government, the state governors, or whoever wants state police, so be it. We are ready to review our laws to accommodate them.
“The Senate is about to inaugurate the constitution amendment committee, and then when we put the panel in place, members will now go out there and meet up with all the critical stakeholders in Nigeria within the sectors, traditional rulers, and so on and so forth.”
Adaramodu, however, said the state houses of assembly and the governors would still have a crucial role to play because at least 24 out of the 36 states of the federation must vote in support of any amendment to the constitution before it could be signed by the president.
![Rev. Fr. Anthony Odiong, a US-based Nigerian Louisiana Catholic priest, was arrested in Florida on Tuesday for possessing child pornography, according to law authorities. The suspect is reportedly accused of many other cases of sexual assault. The Waco, Texas, Police Department announced in a Facebook post on Tuesday that officers detained Father Anthony Odiong in Ave Maria, Florida, with assistance from the United States Marshals Service. Waco police announced in March that they had received "credible information" about a sexual assault allegedly committed by Odiong in Texas in 2012. “During the subsequent investigation, a case of possession of child pornography was uncovered,” the police said. The priest was apprehended in Florida by the Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force. The Waco Police Department said that he will be extradited to Texas. Odiong had previously served in the Archdiocese of New Orleans before being removed as priest in December of last year due to controversy over homilies in which he claimed, among other things, that the Catholic Church was being taken over by "the gays." At the time, the priest was also accused of abusive behaviour; a Louisiana lady claimed in U.S. bankruptcy court that Odiong had committed both financial and sexual abuse against her. Prior to joining the New Orleans Archdiocese, Odiong served in at least two Texas parishes. On Tuesday, Waco police stated that during their sexual assault investigation, "the presence of other survivors was revealed." “Multiple women have come forward to tell similar experiences as the sexual assault survivor who reported the initial allegation,” the police department said. “Survivors’ experiences ranged from sexual assault and indecent assault, more commonly recognised as groping, and financial abuse, with some survivors experiencing every element of Anthony Odiong’s manipulation.” The police said they “believe there may be more survivors, and we wish to speak with anyone who [has] had similar encounters” with the priest. The Archdiocese of New Orleans issued a brief news release on Tuesday noting Odiong's arrest in Florida. The archdiocese “encourages anyone with any information to contact law enforcement,” the release said.](https://chronicle.ng/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ezgif-6-4730550ede-450x300.jpg "Odiong: US-based Nigerian Catholic priest convicted over sexual assault")
