President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday restated his decision to withdraw police officers attached to Very Important Persons and redeploy them to regular policing duties. The President made the remark shortly before the Federal Executive Council meeting held at the State House in Abuja.
Tinubu expressed frustration over the slow pace of compliance with his earlier directive. He emphasised that any official who feels that their assignment genuinely requires police protection should contact the Inspector General of Police for clearance.
The President instructed the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji Ojo, to work with the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, and the leadership of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps to swiftly replace withdrawn escorts so that individuals who require protection are not left vulnerable.
He also directed the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, and the Department of State Services to provide further guidance and ensure that the directive is fully implemented. According to him, the move is a necessary response to the rising cases of kidnapping across the country.
“We need every available officer back on the ground and fully deployed,” Tinubu said, adding that civil defence operatives should assume responsibility for VIP protection where necessary. He disclosed that forest guards will now be armed to strengthen security in remote areas.
Tinubu further assigned Vice President Kashim Shettima the task of using the National Economic Council to identify abandoned grazing reserves and convert them into modern ranches and livestock settlements. The President said this approach would help reduce clashes between farmers and herders while opening new economic opportunities within the livestock sector.
He emphasised that state governments, which control land allocation, will be central to selecting viable locations for the planned reforms.
The renewed directive comes nearly three weeks after the President first ordered the withdrawal of police escorts from VIPs. That earlier instruction followed the abduction of more than three hundred people, mainly schoolchildren, in Kebbi, Kwara and Niger States.
A statement signed by the Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, said police officers assigned to individuals would now be redeployed to investigations, community patrols and school protection. VIPs who still require protection will be expected to request armed personnel from the civil defence corps instead.
The conversation around excessive security details resurfaced on Tuesday when Nobel Laureate Professor Wole Soyinka criticised the large security convoy he observed escorting a young man linked to the Presidency, later identified as Seyi Tinubu. Soyinka spoke during the twentieth Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism Awards in Lagos.
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