Support for the proposed state police gathered momentum on Thursday as speakers of the 36 State Houses of Assembly, governors, the Labour Party and the Forum of APC Speakers backed the constitutional amendment passed by the Senate, raising hopes that the bill could secure the approvals needed to become law.

The endorsements came barely 24 hours after the Senate passed the Constitution Alteration Bill seeking to establish state police across the federation, a major step in Nigeria’s decades-long effort to decentralise policing and tackle worsening insecurity.

The bill must now be approved by at least 24 state Houses of Assembly before it can be transmitted to President Bola Tinubu for assent.

While many stakeholders described the proposal as a necessary response to growing cases of terrorism, banditry, kidnapping and communal violence, the Peoples Redemption Party opposed the move, questioning the motives of the Tinubu administration and urging Nigerians to reject it.