The House of Representatives on Thursday passed the Executive Bill seeking to establish state police, bringing Nigeria closer to adopting a decentralised policing system, despite a walkout by opposition lawmakers protesting the procedure adopted during the bill’s consideration.
The bill was approved during plenary after the House withdrew its earlier constitutional amendment proposal on state police and adopted the Executive Bill instead.
Its passage follows the Senate’s approval of a similar measure, marking another significant step towards the creation of a dual policing system aimed at strengthening internal security and improving law enforcement across the country.
The proceedings, however, were marred by a rowdy session as members of the minority caucus staged a walkout, accusing the House leadership of violating parliamentary procedure.
The protest was triggered by Speaker Tajudeen Abbas’ decision to subject the bill to a voice vote without first reading and considering each of its 26 clauses individually.
During the proceedings, the Minority Leader, Frederick Agbedi, repeatedly sought to raise a point of order but was not recognised by the Speaker.
Instead of taking the bill clause-by-clause, Abbas called for a voice vote, asking members in support to say “aye” and those opposed to say “nay.”
After ruling that the “ayes” had prevailed, opposition lawmakers walked out of the Green Chamber in protest.
Defending his handling of the proceedings, Abbas maintained that the constitutional threshold required to pass the bill had already been met.
“A total of 276 honourable members signed the attendance register in support of the police bill while 35 more voted online. This brings the number of lawmakers in support of the state police bill to 311.
“What is required to pass a bill is two-thirds of our members, which is 240,” the Speaker said.
Speaking with journalists after the walkout, Agbedi clarified that the minority caucus was not opposed to the establishment of state police but objected to the procedure adopted in passing the bill.
“Let it be stated that the minority caucus is not against state police. We are in support of anything that will bring about peace and security in Nigeria.
“All we are saying is that there should be a clause-by-clause consideration of the bill, which the Speaker rejected,” he said.
The proposed legislation is one of the key constitutional reform initiatives aimed at restructuring Nigeria’s policing architecture in response to worsening insecurity across the country.
For years, state governors, traditional rulers, security experts and civil society organisations have advocated the establishment of state police, arguing that the current centralised policing system is overstretched and unable to effectively address local security challenges.
Supporters of the proposal believe decentralising policing will enhance intelligence gathering, improve response times and strengthen community-based law enforcement.
However, critics have warned that state police could be abused by state governments to intimidate political opponents, suppress dissent and influence electoral processes, calling for robust constitutional safeguards, operational independence and accountability mechanisms to prevent misuse.
With both the Senate and the House of Representatives now having passed the Executive Bill, the proposal moves closer to becoming law, subject to the remaining constitutional and legislative processes required for its enactment.