Lawmaker Protests Withdrawal of Police Orderly, Demands Nationwide Enforcement of Presidential Directive

Sunday Aborisade in Abuja

A mild drama played out on the floor of the Senate on Wednesday as the senator representing Bauchi Central Senatorial District, Abdul Ningi, raised a point of order to protest the withdrawal of his only police orderly.

He described the action as discriminatory, selective, and inconsistent with President Bola Tinubu’s directive on the recall of police personnel attached to VIPs.

Invoking the Legislative Houses Powers and Privileges Act and Senate precedents, Ningi said the decision to strip senators of police protection while allowing ministers, business executives, children of political office holders, and even entertainers to retain multiple security escorts amounted to turning the National Assembly into a “scapegoat”.

Ningi, who has been in the National Assembly since 1999, told his colleagues that he had maintained only one police orderly in his decades of public service.

He said he was shocked to wake up on Wednesday morning to discover that the officer had been withdrawn without warning.

He said: “I have never requested additional security personnel. But I woke up today and was told that my only police orderly and others were withdrawn.

“I have no problem with that; my problem is that it should go across the board. From the president to the vice-president, Senate President, Speaker, ministers, governors, let’s see the same treatment.”

The Bauchi senator said he had observed long convoys of ministers moving around Abuja with heavy security escorts.

He also said business conglomerates, foreign investors, children of top politicians, and even music artists enjoyed “complementary police protection,” a situation he described as “unheard of in any democracy”.

Ningi argued that implementing the presidential directive selectively not only undermined equity but also violated the spirit of the policy, which was aimed at strengthening internal security by returning police personnel to core policing duties.

He said: “You cannot withdraw security from senators, people elected by Nigerians, and leave businessmen, singers, and children of politicians with escorts. If the president has given a directive, let it apply to everyone.”

He urged the Senate President to mandate the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Police Affairs to investigate the alleged selective enforcement and report back to the chamber.

Responding, Deputy Senate President Jibrin Barau, who presided over the plenary, confirmed that the leadership had already taken steps to address the matter at a meeting held on Tuesday.

Barau said: “It is of concern to us, and we are dealing with it formally. Mr. President’s directive was made in good faith to strengthen the police force. However, the observations raised by Senator Ningi are valid and will be addressed.”

Barau directed the Police Affairs Committee to immediately investigate reports that the directive was being flouted. Certain classes of persons “were still moving around with heavy police protection in defiance of the presidential instruction”.

He assured Ningi that the leadership was confident the president would exempt lawmakers from the blanket withdrawal, in line with international parliamentary practice.

Barau said: “We have a listening president. By the grace of God, he will exempt the National Assembly from that order. The leadership has agreed on the course of action required to restore your orderly.”

He reaffirmed the Senate’s support for President Tinubu’s security reforms, but stressed that lawmakers must not be treated unfairly.

“This issue raised by you is taken seriously. We stand by the president, but fairness must prevail,” he said.