The leader of the Senate, Opeyemi Bamidele, has disclosed that the National Assembly is developing legal frameworks for creating state police.

He said establishing the state police would serve as part of measures to address insecurity in the country. Mr Bamidele disclosed this in a statement on Sunday.

“The authority of the National Assembly is in the process of developing legal frameworks for the establishment of state police as one of the measures to address insecurity in the country.

“We urge security agencies to work together as a team to track and apprehend all the masterminds and sponsors of terror attacks nationwide. We appeal to some political actors who always lash out at the country’s challenges to push divisive narratives to learn from the example of Jesus Christ.

“Such actors are no longer playing opposition politics but simply taking advantage of the country’s internal conditions in the pursuit of their own parochial political outcomes,” stated Mr Bamidele.

A State Police Bill was sponsored by former Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu (PDP, Enugu). The bill seeks to establish a federal police, state police, National Police Service Commission, National Police Council, and State Police Service Commission.

It was first introduced to the Eighth Senate on June 12, 2018, but did not scale through.

Mr Bamidele also celebrated with Christians worldwide to mark Easter, asking leaders across boards to shun divisive agendas and narratives that could compound the country’s challenges.

The politician urged Nigerians “to consciously reflect on the virtues of Jesus Christ; learn from his consecration and live his life of purpose rooted in the pursuit of justice love and redemption for humanity”.

The senator said, “In Nigeria today, Christ’s example clearly presents us a glimpse of how we should live together: as compatriots and not competitors, collaborators and not combatants, comrades and not contenders in the task of building a viable and virile federation that will serve the interest of all.

“The recent killings in Benue and Plateau states outright negated the virtues of peace and love that Jesus Christ taught during His days. The recurrent utterances by some political and sectional figures also belied the values of courage, perseverance and tolerance He evidently lived for. No country develops as a result of one section rising up against another and vice versa.”

(NAN)