By Simpson Global Media News Desk
Nigeria’s proposed constitutional framework for the establishment of State Police Services has entered a new and potentially consequential phase, with state Houses of Assembly beginning to consider the proposal at the same time that a fresh suit before the Federal High Court in Abuja challenges the procedure used by the House of Representatives to pass the constitutional amendment.
The latest legal challenge, filed by the Abuja School of Social and Political Thought and three other plaintiffs, asks the Federal High Court to determine whether the House of Representatives complied with the constitutional requirements for altering the 1999 Constitution when it passed the State Police Bill on July 23, 2026.
The case, registered as FHC/ABJ/CS/2191/2026, does not challenge the idea of State Police on its merits. The plaintiffs say their challenge concerns the legislative procedure followed by the House, including whether the required two-thirds majority was properly established and whether the bill received the constitutionally required consideration.
The development comes as the constitutional amendment process moves to the state level.
The National Assembly transmitted the State Police constitutional amendment to the 36 State Houses of Assembly for consideration and concurrence. Osun became the first state legislature reported to have approved the proposal, followed by Edo, while other assemblies, including Ekiti and Nasarawa, have confirmed receipt and begun or scheduled consideration.
The emerging legal dispute could therefore introduce a separate judicial question into a process that is already being considered by state legislatures across the federation.
What the proposed reform seeks to change
The proposed constitutional alteration is designed to create a legal framework for State Police Services while retaining the Nigeria Police Force as the federal police service.
If the constitutional amendment ultimately completes all required stages, policing in Nigeria would move from an exclusively federal structure to a dual arrangement in which state-level police services operate alongside the federal police.
The proposal is part of a wider security reform agenda developed in response to Nigeria’s longstanding challenges involving terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, communal violence, rural insecurity and other forms of crime.
The Presidency has repeatedly argued that more decentralised policing could improve local intelligence gathering and enable authorities to respond more quickly to security problems at community level.
In June, Chief of Staff to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Femi Gbajabiamila, said consultations involving the Executive, National Assembly and security authorities had made significant progress towards establishing State Police. The Presidency said the objective was to strengthen internal security, improve grassroots intelligence and enhance the ability of sub-national governments to respond to emerging security threats.
Earlier, President Tinubu had told senators that a constitutional amendment was needed to provide the legal framework for State Police.
The President said a decentralised policing structure could complement the existing federal security architecture and promote community-focused law enforcement.
The current process therefore represents the latest stage of an initiative that has been under discussion for several months.
How the constitutional process reached the states
The State Police proposal first had to pass through the National Assembly.
The Senate passed the relevant Executive Bill on June 24, 2026.
The House of Representatives subsequently passed the constitutional amendment on July 23.
Under Nigeria’s constitutional amendment procedure, the process does not end with approval by the National Assembly.
The Constitution requires state legislatures to participate in constitutional alterations, meaning the proposal must secure the required level of concurrence from the State Houses of Assembly before the amendment can ultimately become part of the Constitution.
The National Assembly subsequently transmitted the State Police proposal to the state legislatures.
The Clerk of the National Assembly clarified in September that the State Police Services Bill was the constitutional amendment proposal that had been transmitted to all 36 State Houses of Assembly at that stage.
This state-level phase has now begun.
The fact that individual assemblies are considering the proposal at different speeds means the national process is likely to develop through a series of state-level decisions rather than one single vote.
Osun becomes first reported approving state
The Osun State House of Assembly became the first state legislature reported to have approved the proposed constitutional amendment.
The approval was reported on September 22, with the National Assembly at the same time clarifying the status of the constitutional amendment bills transmitted to state legislatures.
The significance of the Osun decision is procedural rather than an indication that State Police has already been established.
A state assembly’s approval is one component of the constitutional amendment process.
The proposal still has to satisfy the wider constitutional requirements before State Police can legally operate under the new framework.
Edo follows
Edo State also approved the proposal.
The Edo State House of Assembly unanimously backed the constitutional amendment, according to reports published after the vote.
The House directed its Clerk to prepare and transmit clean copies of the concurrence resolution to the National Assembly.
Lawmakers who spoke during the debate said State Police could bring security personnel closer to communities and improve responses to security challenges.
One lawmaker also proposed the creation of an Edo State Police Service Commission as part of the framework.
The Edo decision illustrates one of the issues that could become important if the constitutional amendment is eventually adopted nationally: states will need institutional structures to recruit, train, supervise, discipline and regulate their own police services.
Ekiti confirms receipt
The Ekiti State House of Assembly confirmed on September 27 that it had received the State Police constitutional amendment from the National Assembly.
Speaker Adeoye Aribasoye said the Assembly received the transmission following a letter from the Office of the Clerk of the National Assembly dated September 16.
The Assembly said it would consider the proposal and indicated that it intended to proceed with the legislative process.
The Ekiti development is significant because it shows that the state-level process is continuing across different regions.
It also demonstrates that receipt of the bill does not automatically amount to approval.
Each state legislature must consider the proposal within its own constitutional responsibilities.
Nasarawa sets September 28 consideration
The Nasarawa State House of Assembly has scheduled consideration of the State Police Bill for September 28.
Speaker Danladi Jatau said the Assembly received the proposal from the Clerk of the National Assembly on September 18.
He said lawmakers would scrutinise the legislation after resuming plenary and take the necessary legislative steps.
The Nasarawa timetable makes September 28 an important date in the continuing state-level process.
It also comes on the same day that reports emerged of the fresh Federal High Court challenge to the federal passage of the bill.
The two developments are legally separate.
The state assembly is considering whether to concur with the constitutional amendment.
The Federal High Court case, meanwhile, challenges whether the House of Representatives followed the constitutionally prescribed procedure when it passed the bill.
The new court case
The plaintiffs in the new suit are the Abuja School of Social and Political Thought, Speak-Out Africa, Ushakase Agwa and Abdullahi A. Sani.
They sued the House of Representatives and its Speaker.
The plaintiffs are asking the court to declare the purported passage of the State Police constitutional amendment unconstitutional, null and without legal effect.
Their argument is based primarily on Sections 9(1), 9(2) and 56(1) of the 1999 Constitution.
They contend that constitutional amendment bills require approval by at least two-thirds of members present and voting and that such approval must be established through actual voting rather than simply through a voice vote whose individual votes were not recorded.
They are also asking the court to determine whether constitutional amendments must be considered clause by clause before they can be validly passed.
The case is therefore about procedure.
It is not a petition asking the court to determine whether Nigeria needs State Police.
What the plaintiffs are challenging
According to the originating summons reported by Trust Radio, the plaintiffs contend that the House did not read and consider the bill clause by clause before its purported passage.
They also challenge the use of a voice vote to approve the constitutional amendment.
The plaintiffs argue that where the Constitution requires a two-thirds majority, the legislative record should establish that the necessary number of members actually voted in favour of the proposal.
They have also questioned whether a constitutional amendment can be validly approved without an actual count establishing the required majority.
The plaintiffs have asked the court to declare that constitutional amendment legislation passed without the required clause-by-clause consideration is invalid.
They are further seeking a declaration that an amendment passed without an actual vote demonstrating the required two-thirds majority is unconstitutional.
The court has not yet ruled on those claims.
House of Representatives rejects allegation
The House of Representatives has disputed the allegations.
Deputy spokesperson Philip Agbese told Trust Radio that the House was not aware of the suit and had not been served with court processes.
He also rejected the suggestion that the House failed to follow its constitutional or parliamentary procedures.
According to the House, the 10th National Assembly complied with its Standing Orders and the Constitution when considering and passing the State Police Bill.
This creates two competing accounts of the legislative process.
The plaintiffs say the procedure was constitutionally defective.
The House says the procedure was valid and complied with its rules and constitutional requirements.
The Federal High Court will have to determine the legal issues if the case proceeds.
The numbers behind the disputed vote
One of the key factual issues concerns the number of lawmakers who supported the bill.
The House of Representatives had previously said the amendment was passed with the support of 311 lawmakers.
Speaker Abbas Tajudeen disclosed that 276 members voted physically while 35 participated virtually, according to the report of the court challenge.
The plaintiffs nevertheless argue that the parliamentary record does not demonstrate that the required two-thirds majority was established through the procedure they say the Constitution demands.
The disagreement is therefore not simply about whether a large number of lawmakers supported State Police.
It is about the legal method by which that support was established.
That distinction is central to the case.
Why constitutional procedure matters
Constitutional amendments occupy a different legal position from ordinary legislation.
Nigeria’s Constitution provides a specific process for altering its provisions.
That process is intended to ensure that changes to the country’s basic legal framework receive a higher level of legislative agreement than ordinary bills.
The plaintiffs are asking the court to interpret those requirements and determine whether the House’s handling of the State Police proposal met the constitutional threshold.
If the court agrees with the plaintiffs, the federal stage of the amendment process could face a procedural setback.
If the court rejects the claims, the state-level concurrence process would continue without that particular procedural objection.
At the time of publication, the suit had not been assigned to a judge, according to Trust Radio.
The challenge does not oppose State Police itself
The plaintiffs have expressly distinguished their legal argument from the substantive question of whether State Police should exist.
Their case focuses on how the amendment was passed.
This distinction matters because the debate over State Police has generated arguments from several directions.
Some Nigerians and security stakeholders have supported decentralised policing as a means of improving local intelligence and response times.
Others have raised concerns about accountability, political influence, funding, training, human-rights protections and the possibility of competing policing structures.
Those policy debates are separate from the court case.
The new suit asks whether the National Assembly complied with constitutional procedure.
Federal Government’s proposed framework
The Presidency has previously indicated that State Police would not simply involve transferring policing powers to governors without safeguards.
In August, the Presidential Working Group on the proposed National Policing Bill announced a seven-week programme for developing a national legal and operational framework for state policing.
The proposed framework was expected to address recruitment, vetting, training, pay, pensions, equipment, custody, complaints, discipline, data management, firearms control, independent oversight and financial sustainability.
The working group said states seeking to establish police services should demonstrate credible arrangements in these areas before beginning operations.
It also proposed national minimum standards and mechanisms for determining state readiness.
The Presidency said the framework would clarify jurisdictional responsibilities and provide for oversight and human-rights protections.
These issues are important because the establishment of State Police would create a new security institution at state level.
Recruitment and training
One of the most important practical questions is how state police officers would be recruited and trained.
The Presidency’s proposed framework identifies recruitment, vetting and training among the issues requiring national standards.
That suggests the emerging model would not simply allow each state to create an entirely independent policing system without common standards.
Recruitment procedures could determine the quality and professionalism of state police personnel.
Vetting would be relevant to ensuring that people with inappropriate backgrounds are not brought into the security system.
Training would need to address criminal investigation, use of force, human rights, evidence handling, community relations and other core policing responsibilities.
The precise institutional arrangements would depend on the final constitutional and legislative framework.
Oversight and accountability
Accountability is another central issue.
State Police officers would exercise coercive powers on behalf of the state.
That means mechanisms would be needed to investigate allegations of misconduct and protect citizens’ rights.
The Presidential Working Group has identified independent oversight, complaints and discipline among the areas to be covered by the proposed national framework.
The proposed framework also contemplates national minimum standards.
That could provide a mechanism for ensuring that state police services operate within defined legal and professional boundaries.
The question of who ultimately supervises a state police service would nevertheless remain important.
The structure would need to balance state-level operational responsibility with mechanisms that protect professional independence and prevent unlawful interference.
Funding
Funding is another practical challenge.
A police service requires salaries, vehicles, communications systems, weapons, protective equipment, training facilities, forensic capacity, information systems and other infrastructure.
The Presidency has said states seeking to establish their own police services must demonstrate financial sustainability.
That requirement recognises that creating a police organisation involves long-term recurrent expenditure, not simply an initial investment.
The funding question may therefore become a major part of state-level discussions if the constitutional amendment proceeds.
States would have to determine whether they can sustainably support the personnel and infrastructure required for effective policing.
Relationship with the Nigeria Police Force
The proposed arrangement is not intended to abolish the Nigeria Police Force.
Instead, the constitutional amendment would establish State Police Services while retaining the Nigeria Police Force as the federal police service.
This creates a need for clearly defined jurisdictions.
The Presidency has identified jurisdictional responsibilities as one of the matters to be clarified in the national policing framework.
Without clear boundaries, incidents involving multiple jurisdictions could create uncertainty about which organisation should take the lead.
There would also need to be mechanisms for information sharing and joint operations.
Nigeria’s existing security environment already involves collaboration among the police, military, Department of State Services, civil defence authorities and other agencies.
A dual policing system would add another institutional layer.
Local intelligence
Supporters of State Police have repeatedly cited local intelligence as one of the reasons for decentralisation.
The argument is that officers recruited from and stationed within communities may develop stronger knowledge of local geography, relationships, languages and security patterns.
The Presidency has similarly said State Police could improve grassroots intelligence gathering.
However, effective local intelligence depends not only on proximity.
It also requires professional investigation, reliable information management, community trust and safeguards against misuse.
The proposed national framework therefore places intelligence alongside training, oversight and accountability rather than treating decentralisation alone as a solution.
The political dimension
Although State Police is primarily being presented as a security reform, the proposal inevitably has political implications because state governments would have significant responsibilities in the operation of state police services.
This has generated concerns among some commentators about the potential for political interference.
The Presidency has acknowledged the concern.
In August, Attorney-General and Minister of Justice Lateef Fagbemi said the proposed National Policing Bill was intended to ensure that establishment of State Police would not become a tool for political persecution.
The framework was also described as requiring independent oversight and accountability.
These safeguards will be particularly important because state governors occupy powerful constitutional positions within their jurisdictions.
The final institutional arrangement will determine the extent to which state police commanders can operate independently of political instructions while remaining accountable to lawful state authorities.
Security needs driving the debate
The State Police proposal has emerged against a background of persistent security challenges across Nigeria.
Different regions have experienced different combinations of kidnapping, banditry, terrorism, communal conflict, cult-related violence, armed robbery and other forms of organised crime.
The Federal Government has repeatedly argued that the existing policing structure needs additional capacity to respond to these threats.
President Tinubu has linked the proposed reform to the need for faster responses and stronger grassroots security.
The reform is therefore being pursued alongside broader investments and operational responses involving the armed forces and federal security agencies.
State Police would not replace those national security institutions.
Its proposed role would be primarily policing within state jurisdictions, subject to the eventual constitutional and statutory framework.
Police preparation for the 2027 elections
The debate over State Police is also unfolding as Nigeria prepares for the 2027 general elections.
The Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Disu, recently said the Nigeria Police Force was preparing officers for election duties.
At a senior officers’ conference in Owerri earlier in September, he unveiled a six-pillar framework covering intelligence gathering and early warning, training and preparedness, inter-agency coordination, communication and technology, community engagement and political neutrality.
Disu also warned officers against political bias and said personnel who collude with political actors or abuse their powers would face investigation and punishment.
The IGP subsequently told journalists in Lagos that the police were prepared to provide security for the 2027 elections, citing the recent Ekiti and Osun governorship elections as experiences from which the Force had drawn lessons.
The election-security preparations and the State Police constitutional process are related to the broader question of policing, but they remain separate institutional developments.
The 2027 elections will be conducted under the existing Nigeria Police Force structure unless the constitutional and legislative process produces a legally operational state-policing framework before then.
The road ahead for the constitutional amendment
For State Police to become part of Nigeria’s constitutional framework, the proposal must complete the constitutionally prescribed amendment process.
The National Assembly has passed the bill.
The State Houses of Assembly are now considering it.
The precise number of state approvals required is governed by the Constitution.
The state-level process therefore represents a critical stage.
At the same time, the new Federal High Court case could determine whether the federal legislative stage itself was properly completed.
If the court finds that the House did not follow the constitutional procedure, the National Assembly could face the need to revisit the process.
If the court finds that the procedure was valid, the state-level consideration can continue subject to the remaining constitutional requirements.
The significance of the litigation
The court case is significant because it tests the constitutional process rather than the political popularity of State Police.
That makes the dispute potentially relevant beyond this particular amendment.
A judicial interpretation of how Sections 9 and related provisions should be applied could affect future attempts to alter the Constitution.
The case could therefore provide guidance on questions concerning voting procedures, clause-by-clause consideration and the evidentiary requirements for establishing the required majority.
At the same time, the courts will have to consider the separation of powers between the judiciary and the legislature.
The House of Representatives has said it complied with its Standing Orders and the Constitution.
The plaintiffs argue that parliamentary procedure cannot override express constitutional requirements.
The court will determine the legal position if the case proceeds.
What happens in the states
The state-level process is expected to continue regardless of the different pace of individual assemblies.
Osun and Edo have already approved the proposal according to reports.
Ekiti has confirmed receipt and indicated that it will consider the bill.
Nasarawa scheduled consideration for September 28.
Other state assemblies are also expected to review the proposal in accordance with their legislative calendars.
The debates may focus on the security needs of individual states, the proposed structure of State Police, funding, accountability and the relationship between state and federal authorities.
Because the proposal requires concurrence across state legislatures, the process could involve extensive consultations among governors, lawmakers, security professionals, civil society organisations and other stakeholders.
A question of implementation, not only approval
Even if the constitutional amendment clears the required legislative hurdles, State Police would not automatically become fully operational overnight.
The necessary enabling laws, regulations, institutions, budgets and administrative systems would still have to be established.
States would need police commissions or equivalent oversight arrangements where required by the final framework.
Recruitment and training systems would have to be created.
Command structures would need to be defined.
Facilities, vehicles, communications and other equipment would have to be provided.
Procedures for cooperation with the Nigeria Police Force and other security agencies would also have to be established.
The Presidency’s proposed National Policing Bill anticipates many of these practical questions.
Concerns over duplication
A dual policing structure could also raise questions about duplication.
Nigeria already has the Nigeria Police Force, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, the armed forces, the Department of State Services and other security organisations.
State Police would add another formal policing institution.
Clear responsibilities would therefore be necessary to prevent overlapping mandates.
For example, an armed criminal operation crossing a state boundary could require coordinated responses.
Similarly, intelligence gathered by a state police service could become relevant to federal investigations.
The final legal framework will therefore need effective information-sharing and coordination arrangements.
Human rights considerations
Policing powers must also operate within Nigeria’s constitutional protections.
Any state police framework would have to account for citizens’ rights relating to arrest, detention, search, use of force and access to justice.
The Presidency has included human-rights protections and independent oversight among the principles associated with the proposed framework.
The importance of such safeguards lies in ensuring that decentralisation does not weaken accountability.
The existence of a police service closer to communities could improve responsiveness, but the same proximity makes strong complaint and disciplinary systems important.
The court and the states now move on parallel tracks
The present situation can therefore be understood as two parallel processes.
The first is legislative.
State Houses of Assembly are considering whether to approve the constitutional amendment already passed by the National Assembly.
The second is judicial.
The Federal High Court in Abuja has been asked to determine whether the House of Representatives followed the constitutionally required procedure when it passed the amendment.
Neither process has yet produced a final nationwide State Police system.
The state-level approvals reported so far remain part of the larger constitutional process.
The court challenge remains unresolved.
What Nigerians should watch
Several developments will determine the next stage.
First is the progress of the constitutional amendment through the State Houses of Assembly.
Second is whether the Federal High Court assumes jurisdiction and hears the procedural challenge.
Third is any response by the House of Representatives once it is formally served with the court processes.
Fourth is the interpretation that courts may eventually give to the constitutional voting requirements.
Fifth is the development of the broader National Policing Bill and the standards that would govern any State Police services if the constitutional amendment becomes effective.
Sixth is the question of funding and institutional readiness at state level.
These issues will determine whether the proposal moves from constitutional text to functioning policing institutions.
Security reform at a critical stage
Nigeria’s debate over State Police has moved beyond the stage of general policy discussion.
A constitutional amendment has passed both chambers of the National Assembly.
State legislatures are now considering it.
Some have already approved it.
Others are reviewing it.
And a new court case has placed the procedure used by the House of Representatives under judicial scrutiny.
The competing developments do not yet determine the final outcome.
The plaintiffs in the Federal High Court case are challenging procedure, while the House maintains that it complied with the Constitution and its Standing Orders.
The state assemblies, meanwhile, must carry out their own constitutional responsibilities.
If the amendment survives the legal challenge and obtains the required concurrence, attention will shift increasingly towards implementation: recruitment, training, funding, command structures, oversight, jurisdiction and cooperation with federal security agencies.
If the court challenge succeeds, the federal legislative stage could require further action before the constitutional amendment can proceed.
For communities confronting insecurity, the practical question remains whether any new policing structure can translate into faster response, better intelligence, stronger investigations and greater public safety.
For policymakers, the challenge is to design a system that addresses Nigeria’s security needs while maintaining professional standards, accountability and respect for constitutional rights.
For the police themselves, the emergence of a dual policing model would represent a major institutional change.
And for the judiciary, the latest case offers an opportunity to clarify the constitutional rules governing one of the most consequential proposed amendments to Nigeria’s security architecture in decades.
What happens next
As of September 28, 2026, the State Police proposal remains under consideration at the state level, while the Federal High Court challenge remains pending.
The Nasarawa State House of Assembly is scheduled to consider the bill, while other assemblies continue their own processes.
The National Assembly has already taken the federal legislative step required of it, but the fresh lawsuit means the validity of that step is now being questioned before the courts.
The House of Representatives has rejected the allegation that it failed to comply with constitutional and parliamentary requirements.
The plaintiffs maintain that the procedure used did not establish the required two-thirds support in the constitutionally prescribed manner.
Those competing positions will ultimately be tested through the judicial process if the case proceeds.
Meanwhile, the broader national debate continues.
The Federal Government has described State Police as part of a strategy for improving internal security and grassroots policing.
The Presidential Working Group has proposed national standards covering recruitment, training, oversight, funding, complaints, discipline, data and firearms control.
State lawmakers are now being asked to decide whether to support the constitutional amendment that would make such a system legally possible.
The significance of the present moment is therefore not that State Police has already been established.
It has not.
Rather, Nigeria has reached a stage where the proposal is being tested simultaneously in legislatures and in court.
The coming weeks will show whether the state-level concurrence process gathers sufficient support and whether the judicial challenge to the House procedure advances.
Whatever the eventual legal outcome, the current process has placed the structure of policing at the centre of Nigeria’s national security debate.
The final test will be whether any new arrangement can combine local responsiveness with professional standards, effective oversight, sustainable financing and constitutional safeguards.
Until those questions are settled, Nigeria will continue operating under the existing federal police structure while the proposed State Police system remains a constitutional reform under consideration.
For now, the legislative process continues in the states, the legal challenge awaits judicial attention, and the country’s security institutions remain responsible for protecting lives and property under the existing framework.
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