• Seeks constitutional independence for EFCC, INEC, CBN, Police
Wale Igbintade
A former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Dr. Olisa Agbakoba, SAN, has warned that without strong constitutional safeguards, state police could easily become instruments of political oppression rather than effective tools for maintaining law and order.
He, however, urged the federal government to use the proposed creation of state police as an opportunity to implement far-reaching constitutional reforms that would insulate key democratic institutions from executive interference.
He, therefore, called for constitutional guarantees to secure the operational independence of institutions such as the EFCC, INEC, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and the Nigeria Police Force.
In a letter dated June 26, 2026, to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), George Akume, Agbakoba commended President Bola Tinubu for transmitting to the National Assembly an Executive Bill seeking to amend Section 214 of the 1999 Constitution to establish state police.
While describing the initiative as a major step toward improving internal security and community policing, Agbakoba warned that state police could become “tools of oppression” if constitutional safeguards were not put in place to prevent abuse by state governors.
He argued that the experience of State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs) and local government councils, institutions he said have been largely captured by state executives, demonstrated that devolution without institutional independence would merely replace one problem with another.
“Devolution without institutional protection is reform in name only,” Agbakoba said, stressing that institutions lacking constitutional guarantees inevitably become instruments of executive power rather than servants of the Constitution and the people.
To address the challenge, Agbakoba urged Nigeria to adopt a constitutional model similar to that of South Africa, where institutions supporting constitutional democracy were expressly insulated from executive control.
He noted that Chapter 9 of South Africa’s Constitution guarantees the independence of institutions such as the Public Protector, Human Rights Commission, Electoral Commission and Auditor-General through constitutional protection, secure tenure, guaranteed funding and accountability to Parliament rather than the executive.
According to him, Nigeria should grant constitutional independence to strategic institutions including the Nigeria Police Force, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).
He also want such extended to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the National Judicial Council (NJC), the Attorney-General of the Federation, the Accountant-General of the Federation, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) and the Office of the Public Defender.
