Governor Dauda Lawal of Zamfara State has revealed that he refused to pay a N300 million ransom demanded by kidnappers who abducted his brothers in 2019, saying he chose not to negotiate with the criminals so as not to encourage the growing menace of kidnapping for ransom.
The governor said his decision was based on his conviction that paying ransom only emboldens criminal groups to continue abducting innocent people.
Lawal disclosed on Thursday while speaking at the ARISE News and THISDAY Townhall Conference in Abuja, where he also renewed his call for the establishment of state police as part of broader efforts to tackle insecurity across the country.
Recounting the ordeal, the governor said the kidnappers demanded N300 million for the release of his brothers, but he refused to negotiate or make any payment.
“My own brothers were kidnapped in 2019, and these criminals were demanding at the time about 300 million. And I said, look, I’m not going to pay a dime. If you like, go and kill them.”
According to him, despite his refusal to pay, the kidnappers eventually released his brothers after they spent about three months in captivity.
Lawal maintained that his experience reinforced his belief that ransom payments only strengthen criminal networks and fuel more abductions.
“By the time we continue to pay ransom to these people, we are encouraging them to kidnap people more and more.”
He argued that if kidnappers realise they cannot obtain money from victims’ families or governments, they would be discouraged from engaging in the crime.
The governor stressed that his position has remained unchanged over the years, insisting that he would never negotiate with or reward criminals.
“I will not negotiate, and I will not pay ransom to any criminal, no matter what happens.”
Lawal made the remarks while advocating for the creation of state police, arguing that governors should have operational control over their states’ security architecture if they are expected to guarantee residents’ safety.
He lamented that although governors are widely regarded as chief security officers of their states, they lack constitutional authority to direct the operations of the various security agencies.
“Since I was called or I’m being called the chief security officer of the states, however, I don’t have the command and control structure to determine what happens or give instructions to some of these security officers.”
According to him, the current arrangement places governors in a difficult position, as they are held responsible for insecurity even though they have no direct control over the police and other security agencies operating in their states.
Lawal described security as the foundation upon which every other aspect of development depends, saying meaningful progress cannot be achieved where lives and property are not adequately protected.
“Why is it difficult for people to understand that my primary responsibility is the protection of lives and property, and I don’t have that control? How do you hold me accountable?”
The governor said establishing state police would make elected leaders more accountable to the people, as citizens would be able to directly assess their governors’ performance in maintaining law and order.
He also argued that state governments would be better positioned to recruit, fund, equip and train security personnel based on the peculiar security challenges in their respective states.
Lawal further noted that the Nigeria Police Force is constrained by inadequate funding, poor welfare and insufficient training, challenges he said have continued to affect the effectiveness and morale of officers.
Highlighting Zamfara State’s investment in security, the governor disclosed that his administration currently finances more than 30 per cent of the state’s security operations.
He said that over the past three years, the state government had procured more than 500 operational vehicles for security agencies to strengthen their capacity to combat banditry and other violent crimes.
Lawal also revealed that the government recently acquired and handed over 35 Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs) and Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles to support ongoing security operations.
The governor added that his administration has embraced technology in the fight against insecurity by acquiring both surveillance and combat drones.
“We bought drones, both surveillance drones and attack drones, to be able to aid the security forces in terms of fighting these criminals in their respective areas.”
He maintained that the solution to Nigeria’s worsening insecurity lies in strengthening security institutions through improved funding, better welfare, enhanced training and modern technology rather than negotiating or paying ransom to armed groups.
Lawal’s comments come amid renewed national conversations on the creation of state police and wider security sector reforms, with supporters arguing that decentralising policing would improve accountability, enhance intelligence gathering and enable quicker responses to local security threats across the country.
Some governors and senators have disagreed over establishing state police, raising concerns about funding and the potential for abuse of the system.
The governors, who spoke at the THISDAY/ARISE Television town hall meeting on Building a National Consensus for State Police and National Security, yesterday in Abuja, included Chukwuma Soludo (Anambra), Peter Mbah (Enugu), Dapo Abiodun (Ogun), Dauda Lawal (Zamfara), and Caleb Mutfwang (Plateau).
Other panellists included the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu; the Minister of Defence, Christopher Musa; the Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele; Senators Adams Oshiomhole and Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan; the former Chief of Defence Staff, Lucky Irabor, among others.
Governor Dapo Abiodun stated that most states are not financially buoyant enough to shoulder the responsibility due to low Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) and federal allocations.
He said, “But we all know that different states have different capacities to generate IGR. There is a discrepancy. I mean, look at a state like Ogun State now. It is the fastest-growing economy in this country by any standard.
“We are the industrial capital of this country by any measure. And yet, if you look at what we get from FAAC, we are probably among the bottom three.
“So these issues have to be addressed so that we can ensure that every state can adequately provide for its state police. We do not have a situation where one state has the capacity to do so and another state, of course, does not.
“Again, the issues that Senator Akpoti has raised are issues of governance and abuse.
“So we need to look at how to ensure that we have an independent Police Complaints Commission, even at the various state levels.
“I am aware that part of our discussions has included ensuring that we have the participation of not just the governors, but also the legislative heads, the Speakers of the Houses of Assembly, and the state Chief Judges, in the new Police Council that the President will be chairing.
“Also, the tenures of the police commissioners will be one term. That one term will ensure that a police commissioner has not become so domesticated and beholden to a particular governor to the point where he can be abused or used to abuse citizens, as she had alleged.
“So on that note, I believe that these sorts of town hall meetings and engagements are extremely important. I want to thank the Chairman of THISDAY and ARISE for organising them.”
Corroborating Abiodun’s position, Governor Mutfwang added that the take-off must be robust, states must consolidate and work together, and funding must be sustainable.
“What we are going to have is a consideration of three principles. One is a robust take-off. The second is state consolidation. Thirdly, we must also consider funding from a sustainability perspective.
“If we allow it to be subjected to the regular financing mechanism of institutions in Nigeria, then we are going to have a lot of fits and starts that will not be good for the system.
“You mentioned the issue of trust. It is when institutions do their jobs well that the citizenry will trust them. When they do not do it well, then there is a breach of confidence.
“We must do all we can. All hands must be on deck to ensure that we build a state police institution that guarantees the basic rights of the people, protects lives and property, and ensures that it is a citizens’ police and not a police for the elites and the leaders,” he said.
Also, Governor Lawal, who highlighted looming challenges facing state police, insisted that the merits outweighed the demerits.
He said: “For me, the advantages are more than the disadvantages. In terms of funding, I can tell you that I have funded more than 95 per cent of security operations in Zamfara State within the last three years. I have bought over 500 vehicles mainly for security purposes. That is just one aspect.
“About three months ago, the Minister of Defence was in Zamfara State to commission 35 APC vehicles that will be used to fight criminality.
“I am not going to negotiate with criminals. That has been my stand. I believe you cannot fight or negotiate from a position of weakness.
“I am not an expert, but from my little understanding, you can fight and negotiate from a position of strength, and I believe that we have the capacity to handle these criminals wherever they are. Yes, I am happy, and I fully support this process, which will now allow us to have state police.
“Concerning these abuses, we as leaders are elected to provide education, healthcare, infrastructure, and so many other things.
“So why is it difficult for people to understand that my primary responsibility is to protect lives and property, and yet I do not have that control?
“How will you hold me accountable? This is the reason we keep insisting that we need to be in charge. If we are in control, Nigerians have every reason to question us because security is fundamental, regardless of what the government wants to bring to society.
“If you are not secure, it is going to be impossible to bring any meaningful change. So I will not pay ransom to any criminal, no matter what happens.”
Soludo Backs State Police, Calls for Fiscal, Judicial Reforms to Deepen Federalism
Governor Soludo threw his weight behind the establishment of state police, saying the debate has shifted from whether Nigeria should adopt the system to how it should be implemented effectively.
Speaking virtually at the THISDAY/ARISE Television Town Hall Meeting on Building a National Consensus for State Police and National Security, Soludo argued that state policing should be part of a broader constitutional restructuring that includes fiscal federalism and judicial reforms.
The governor, who apologised for not attending the event physically due to a scheduling conflict, commended the National Assembly for advancing the constitutional amendment on state police and praised President Bola Tinubu for championing federalism.
“I want to thank the National Assembly for advancing this constitutional amendment and also the President of Nigeria, whom I refer to as the Professor of Federalism. The issue of state police is in the context of a march towards a more functional and effective federal structure,” Soludo said.
He maintained that discussions should now focus on the operational framework for state police rather than whether it should exist.
“The issue is no longer whether or not to have state police. I think we have gone beyond that. The issue is how,” he said.
According to Soludo, committees under the Office of the National Security Adviser, the Attorney-General of the Federation and the Chief of Staff to the President, with the involvement of governors, are already working on critical implementation details.
He noted that issues such as operational standards and the arms and ammunition available to state police officers would have to be carefully addressed.
“There are issues about the ‘how’ that need to be debated. Where you are fighting criminals who have AK-47s and General Purpose Machine Guns (GPMGs), you cannot send people with inferior weapons to confront them,” he said.
The governor, however, argued that state police should not be viewed in isolation but as part of what he described as the “unfinished business” of building a sustainable federal security and justice system.
“State police need to be seen in the context of what I call the unfinished business towards a sustainable federal security and justice system. It has to be sustainable and truly federal,” he stated.
Soludo said one of the major issues requiring urgent attention is Nigeria’s revenue allocation formula, noting that states are increasingly taking on more constitutional responsibilities without receiving corresponding financial resources.
“We are having increasing devolution of functions from the Exclusive Legislative List to the Concurrent List, but without corresponding drastic revisions of the revenue allocation formula. The Federal Government still retains about 53 per cent of federation revenue, while the states receive about 26 per cent,” he said.
He argued that for federalism to be sustainable, the revenue-sharing formula should be reviewed to allow states greater access to national resources.
“If we are going to have sustainable federalism, one of the big elephants that must be addressed is the revenue allocation formula. The Federal Government should not retain more than 40 per cent of the Federation Account, while the rest should devolve to the states,” Soludo said.
The governor also called for comprehensive judicial reforms, insisting that the country’s judicial structure remains largely unitary despite ongoing constitutional devolution.
According to him, the creation of state police should be complemented by state appellate and supreme courts to handle matters strictly within state jurisdiction.
“We still live in a judicial system that is substantially unitary. You have the federal police handling federal offences and state police handling state offences, but our judicial system remains largely centralised,” he said.
Using land disputes as an example, Soludo questioned why cases involving matters under the exclusive jurisdiction of states should travel through the federal appellate system to the Supreme Court.
“Land is exclusively a state matter, yet disputes over land boundaries in villages end up at the Supreme Court and sometimes last 30 or 40 years. I do not understand why such matters should go beyond the state,” he said.
Drawing comparisons with the United States, he advocated establishing state supreme courts as part of a broader restructuring of Nigeria’s justice system.
“This is the time to broaden the conversation. We need to discuss how to build a sustainable federal security and justice system that includes devolution of resources and a fundamental restructuring of our judicial architecture,” Soludo added.
The Anambra governor concluded by urging the National Assembly to view the proposed state police legislation as only one component of a wider constitutional reform agenda aimed at strengthening Nigeria’s federal structure and improving security and justice delivery nationwide.
N’Assembly Conducted Extensive Public Hearings on State Police, Senate Leader Insists
Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele has defended the process leading to the Senate’s passage of the state police constitutional amendment bill, insisting that Nigerians were actively involved through a series of public hearings held over the past 2.5 years.
Bamidele clarified while responding to concerns raised by the moderator, Dr Reuben Abati, about the level of public participation in the legislative process.
Abati had questioned why the National Assembly did not organise a fresh public hearing after governors endorsed state police, saying many Nigerians felt excluded from the process.
Responding, the Senate Leader said the constitutional amendment process began with extensive consultations involving citizens across the country.
“This actually started with the people. People were not left out of this. We have been on the issue of this constitutional amendment to establish state police for the past two and a half years,” Bamidele said.
He explained that the National Assembly organised public hearings at the committee level, across states and the six geopolitical zones to obtain the views of Nigerians on the proposed state police system.
“We actually organised different fora, which we call public hearings. We organised public hearings at the National Assembly at the committee level. We organised public hearings at the state and geopolitical zone levels. Last year, we spent several weeks moving from one geopolitical zone to another, allowing members of the public to participate in the debate as to whether or not we even needed state police in Nigeria and, if yes, what manner of state police we should adopt,” he said.
According to Bamidele, the executive bill transmitted by President Bola Tinubu to the National Assembly incorporated recommendations from nationwide consultations.
“What came from the executive arm of government three weeks ago was an executive bill on state police, which itself had taken into account the different discussions that took place through the public hearings that we had organised,” he stated.
The Senate Leader noted that while the House of Representatives and the Senate considered different versions of the proposal, the Senate adopted the executive bill because it reflected broad stakeholder input.
“What we worked on in the Senate was the executive bill from Mr President after the Federal Executive Council had discussed it, and, of course, members of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum also had their input.”
He disclosed that a joint committee comprising representatives from different arms of government also reviewed the proposal before it was transmitted to the National Assembly.
“At the end of the day, there was also a committee that was set up, comprised of people from the different arms of government, that worked on this for several weeks before sending it to us. So, for us, what we passed in the Senate is a stakeholders’ bill that takes into account the input of different stakeholders,” he said.
Bamidele expressed optimism that the House of Representatives would adopt the Senate’s version of the bill to avoid delays in the constitutional amendment process.
“What we are looking forward to is that our colleagues in the House of Representatives will see the need to adopt this as it is because it is not our intention again to go into another round of debates,” he said.
He explained that constitutional amendment bills require a more stringent procedure than ordinary legislation, including a two-thirds majority in both chambers of the National Assembly.
“Conferencing on constitutional amendment bills is different from having a conference on any other bill. This one also requires a two-thirds majority. Failure to have that will mean the bill is dead on arrival,” he said.
The Senate Leader added that once both chambers harmonise and pass the bill, it will be transmitted to the 36 state Houses of Assembly for approval before being forwarded to President Tinubu for assent.
“What we are seeking at the level of the state Houses of Assembly is what the Constitution describes as approval. We are getting passage by the National Assembly, approval by two-thirds of the 36 state Houses of Assembly, and finally assent from Mr President,” he explained.
Bamidele revealed that members of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum had already indicated their readiness to facilitate the speedy consideration of the bill at the state level.
“Some of our governors have given us the assurance that as soon as this bill gets to them, they will ensure that their state Houses of Assembly sit on the same day across the country so that they can fast-track the discussion and the approval,” he said.
He expressed confidence that the executive, having initiated the legislation, would be ready to grant presidential assent once the constitutional requirements are completed.
“The same executive that sent the bill to us as an executive bill, I am sure, cannot wait to have the bill come back for presidential assent,” Bamidele added.
Earlier, the Senator representing Edo North, Adams Oshiomhole, recalled how his personal assistant was killed, and the police presented a report different from that of the Department of State Services (DSS), noting that many states could abuse the system.
He warned that it would be dangerous for state police to operate without fiscal autonomy, institutional maturity and independent oversight.
Oshiomhole said, “We must stop discussing complex national security issues with emotional romanticism. We must look at the hard, cold facts on the ground.
“The most fundamental rule of security is this: a hungry man with a gun is not a security officer; he is a security risk.
“If a sitting governor cannot allow a free and fair election at the local government level, how can anyone convince me that during a general election, that same governor will not deploy the state police to lock up opposition candidates, intimidate journalists and teargas peaceful protesters?”
The Senator representing Kogi Central, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, said she had always advocated a decentralised policing system but expressed concern that state governors could abuse it.
Akpoti-Uduaghan recalled how she built a police station in her constituency to reduce criminality. Still, the police hierarchy under the former Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, refused to commission the facility.
According to her, she was told to reach out to President Bola Tinubu to intervene. Still, she refused until the station was eventually commissioned by the present Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Disu.
Piqued by the attention the state police debate is receiving, human rights lawyer Professor Chidi Odinkalu challenged governors to provide details of funding for the judiciary.
He also questioned the timing of the debate, given that the next general elections are approaching.
“These are governors who have never funded their ministries of justice. Now they will put money into policing because the police are used for rigging elections.
“They will not fund the ministries of justice, which are essential for prosecuting criminals who endanger Nigerians.”
Minister of Defence, Christopher Musa, submitted that all hands must be on deck to reform the policing system.
“It must not be religion-based. It must not be for the elites. That is very critical. I want to encourage a phased implementation, probably starting with the state capitals, so that we can understand the dynamics, strengths, and weaknesses before full implementation.
“The federal police are doing extremely well, considering the circumstances under which they are operating.
“If we do not address the issues affecting them, and they are not being supported up to 80 or 90 per cent, and we introduce state police with the same challenges, we are not going anywhere.
“There must be justice, fairness and equity in everything that we do. We must look after the weak. They must have trust in our governance if we want those changes to happen.
“As I said, it is not a silver bullet. There are things we need to put in place. We must help the police to achieve these goals together, and if we implement the process gradually, we will be able to get it right.
“The important thing is that Nigerians must believe in their country. You cannot continue to insult your country and expect it to become better. You cannot continue to insult your leaders.”
