Why State Police Could Destroy Nigeria: Lessons from 1960s Violence

During the Aburi Conference, Lt. Col. Ojukwu accused the Inspector General of Police of negligence after a pogrom in the North claimed around 30,000 Igbo lives. In response, the federal police were outnumbered by regional forces, prompting the 1967 Decree to centralize all security operations. Earlier unrest in the Western Region known as Operation Wetie saw arson and roughly 2,000 deaths. State and federal police took opposing sides, exposing the civilian authorities’ failure to maintain order and paving the way for the 1966 coup. Today’s calls to reintroduce state police ignore these lessons. Regional forces fueled ethnic violence in Nigeria, South Sudan and Tigray. Granting states their own police risks bias, injustice and a broken nation.

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