At last, an advocacy of more than two decades is coming to fruition. On September 23, I took a bet in an opinion published here on President Bola Tinubu’s determination to bring the idea of state police to reality. Titled “State police: Tinubu’s date with history”, I had trenchantly argued that another foot-dragging might be costly for the country. It did.

Again, the President has called on the National Assembly to review existing laws to allow states to establish their own police forces as part of efforts to address rising insecurity across the country. This declaration was contained in a statement issued recently that declared a nationwide security emergency. “I call on the National Assembly to begin reviewing our laws to allow states that require state police to establish them,” the President said.

Now, there is no going back on the creation of state police forces. Foreign jihadist terrorists are saturating the country. Nowhere appears safe again.  The red flag is discernible!

The National Assembly should invoke the Doctrine of Necessity to get everything done in a jiffy. The doctrine operates on the Latin maxim salus populi suprema lex (the safety of the people is the supreme law) and was prominently invoked in 2010 when the National Assembly appointed Goodluck Jonathan as the acting President during Umaru Yar’Adua’s incapacitating illness due to the President’s failure to transmit a written declaration of his inability to govern as required by the Constitution. The safety of the people is even more urgent than it was then.