According to a video posted on Arise News, on Sunday June 28, 2026, Andrew Zamani, Professor of Psychology and President of the Pan-African Psychology Union, has stated that the newly passed state policing bill contains clear legal protections that prevent state governors from arbitrarily removing commissioners of police appointed under the new law, dismissing fears that state police could become a tool of political abuse.
Zamani made the statement during an appearance on Arise News’ News Night programme, where he was invited to react to concerns raised by Peter Obi, former governor of Anambra State and presidential candidate of the New Democratic Coalition, who had warned that state policing could be vulnerable to manipulation by politically powerful governors if introduced without proper safeguards.
Responding directly to those concerns, Zamani said the law as passed by the National Assembly had already addressed the issue of governor overreach.
He explained that a commissioner of police appointed under the new arrangement would go through a defined process involving the National Police Council and approval by the state assembly, and that a governor could not simply remove such an official outside of that same process.
In his words, Andrew Zamani said: “The law that has just been passed by the National Assembly puts it in such a way that no state governor can arbitrarily sack a state Commissioner of Police that he has appointed through a process.
The process of getting the National Police Council and eventually the state assembly to approve. He cannot sack such a person without going through the National Police Council. There’s that safeguard.
“The second safeguard is that a state Police Commissioner so appointed can reject an unlawful directive by the state governor and check it through the National Police Council,” he said.
Zamani added that beyond these structural protections, the current arrangement still allows room for review.
He encouraged all parties, including the media, opposition politicians, and civil society, to engage the process at its various constitutional stages and raise any remaining concerns for consideration before final implementation.
He described the passage of the bill as a significant and long-overdue step, noting that Nigeria had debated the issue of state policing for over thirty years without resolution, and that the time for action had now come.
