Moshood Oshun

Eromosele Ebhomele

The Lagos State House of Assembly on Tuesday renewed its call for state police in the country.

The House said it was hopeful that the Federal Government, being headed by a President who emerged from the All Progressives Congress, APC, would urgently look into this demand and give necessary approval.

The demand came from Moshood Oshun, the representative of Lagos Mainland Constituency 2 at the House while he spoke on Tuesday concerning the Sunday attack on a general hospital in Orile Agege by some hoodlums.

The hoodlums had attacked staff and patients at the hospital stabbing some of them and stealing their belongings.

The grouse of the hoodlums was that the doctors decided save the life of a man simply called Taye, who they had injured in a fight.

While the stormed the hospital and raided the wards, staff, including doctors and nurses scampered, but the pounced on those they could lay their hands on attacking them with knives, broken bottles and sticks.

Oshun said few months ago, hoodlums struck in his constituency. They also attacked other areas of the state since then.

He wondered if the police in the state could effectively quell such disturbances because of the limited number of policemen to serve the state with a population that exceeds 20 million.

He said the state needs more police officers and that it would work well with the introduction of state police.

Some analysts have also demanded that Lagos should be granted state police and special status.

They argue that since the state was a former capital of the country and highly populated, it should be given such opportunity to have its own police.

Speaker Mudashiru Obasa, who supported this demand for state police, said the House had often called for state police since the fifth Assembly.

He however said the lawmakers should be hopeful since the Federal Government is currently manned by the APC and “it is in our manifesto that there would be true federalism. So let’s be hopeful.”