The far-reaching directive was issued on Sunday following a high-level security briefing at the Presidential Villa in Abuja. Present at the closed-door meeting were the nation’s top security chiefs: Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant-General Waidi Shaibu; Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sunday Kelvin Aneke; Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun; and the Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Mr Tosin Ajayi. Also in attendance were other senior aides and advisers on security matters.
Presidential spokesman, Mr Bayo Onanuga, announced the decision in a statement released shortly after the meeting concluded. According to Onanuga, President Tinubu expressed deep concern that thousands of trained police officers have been “diverted” from their constitutional duties to provide round-the-clock private protection for a tiny elite, leaving vast swathes of the country, especially rural and semi-urban communities, dangerously under-policed.
“Many of our remote communities have little or no police presence at all,” the President was quoted as saying. “This glaring gap has severely undermined our ability to protect lives and property and to respond swiftly to distress calls. It is no longer acceptable.”
To plug the vacuum that will be created by the withdrawal of police escorts, the President directed that any VIP still requiring armed protection must henceforth source such personnel from the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC). The NSCDC, originally established to protect critical national assets and infrastructure, has in recent years expanded its paramilitary capacity and will now assume responsibility for VIP close-protection duties where such needs are officially justified.
The decision has been hailed by security analysts and civil society groups as one of the boldest steps yet by the Tinubu administration to democratise security and refocus the Nigeria Police Force on its primary mandate of safeguarding all citizens, not just the privileged few. For decades, the attachment of police orderlies and mobile policemen to politicians and influential private citizens has been a subject of public outrage, with critics pointing out that the practice effectively turned the police into a status symbol rather than a public service.
President Tinubu further revealed that he has already approved the recruitment of an additional 30,000 police personnel to bolster manpower as the redeployment takes effect. The Federal Government, he said, is working closely with state governments to modernise and expand police training colleges and facilities so that the new recruits can be absorbed and properly equipped within the shortest possible time.
While no specific timeline was given for the complete withdrawal of police escorts, sources within the Villa indicated that the Inspector-General of Police has been instructed to begin the process immediately and submit weekly progress reports to the President. Exceptions, if any, are expected to be extremely limited and subject to rigorous justification.
The directive comes at a time when Nigeria continues to grapple with multiple security challenges, including insurgency in the North-East, banditry and kidnapping in the North-West and North-Central, farmer-herder clashes, cult violence in the South-South, and rising incidents of armed robbery and ritual killings in many southern states. In several communities, residents have resorted to self-help vigilante groups because of the near-total absence of conventional police patrols.
By stripping VIPs of police orderlies and redirecting those officers to neighbourhoods, divisional police stations and highway checkpoints, the administration hopes to achieve a more equitable distribution of security resources and restore public confidence in the police force.
Civil society organisations and ordinary Nigerians have largely welcomed the move. Many took to social media platforms to praise the President for what they described as “a long-overdue reform.” However, some commentators cautioned that the policy’s success will depend on strict enforcement and resistance to the inevitable pressure that powerful individuals are likely to mount in the coming weeks.
As the Nigeria Police Force begins the complex task of recalling thousands of officers from private duty, the nation watches to see whether this landmark decision will mark a genuine turning point in the country’s often-criticised approach to internal security, or whether entrenched interests will find ways to undermine its implementation.
For now, President Tinubu’s message is clear: in the face of mounting threats, the protection of the Nigerian people as a whole must take absolute precedence over the comfort of a privileged few.
