No fewer than 100,000 police officers attached to Very Important Persons (VIPs) and politicians will be withdrawn and redeployed to core policing duties, including counter-insurgency operations, as part of a strategy to rout the terrorists rampaging across the country.
President Bola Tinubu ordered the withdrawal of police officers at a security meeting held on Sunday in Abuja.
A statement by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, said VIPs requiring protection will now be assigned armed operatives from the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps instead of the police.
An estimated 100,000 policemen are attached to VIPs and politically exposed persons across the country.
Announcing the Presidential directive on Sunday, Onanuga said, “President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has ordered the withdrawal of police officers currently providing security for Very Important Persons in the country.
“Henceforth, police authorities will deploy them to concentrate on their core police duties. In view of the current security challenges facing the country, President Tinubu is desirous of boosting police presence in all communities.’’
He also disclosed that the President has approved the recruitment of 30,000 additional police personnel and that the Federal Government is working with states to upgrade police training facilities nationwide.
Those in attendance at Sunday’s meeting included the Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Waidi Shaibu; Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sunday Kelvin Aneke; Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun; and Director-General of the DSS, Tosin Adeola Ajayi.
Following reports that the troops guarding St. Mary Private Primary and Secondary Schools in Papiri, Agwara Local Government Area of Niger State, were withdrawn some minutes before the school was attacked and dozens of girls taken away, the Defence Headquarters said it had begun a review of the troops’ redeployment.
The District Head of Maga, Muhammad Dantani, added that police personnel at the location said they took cover when the attackers arrived because the bandits were too many and heavily armed.
The PUNCH