Withdrawal of police from VIPs

On November 23, 2025, President Bola Tinubu ordered the withdrawal of police officers currently providing security for Very Important Persons (VIPs) and their redeployment to core police duties. He also approved the recruitment of 30,000 additional police officers, pledging to collaborate with states to upgrade police training facilities nationwide.

On November 26, Tinubu, while declaring emergency on security, also mandated police to recruit additional 20,000 officers, bringing the total to 50,000. He added: “The officers being withdrawn from VIP guard duties should undergo crash training to debrief them and deliver more efficient police services when deployed to security-challenged areas of the country.”

While we applaud President Tinubu for giving the withdrawal a presidential seal, we remind him that this is not the first time such policy was announced. The challenge has always been diligent implementation.

In 2003, IGP Mustafa Tafa Balogun ordered the same withdrawal. It was reversed within a month. In August 2009, IGP Ogbonnaya Onovo followed suit. In 2010, IGP Hafiz Ringim repeated the same order, warning that officers who refused to obey “would be arrested, delisted and prosecuted.”

In February 2012, then Acting IGP Mohammed Abubakar cancelled all approved police security and escorts for private individuals and corporate bodies. In March 2016, late IGP Solomon Arase ordered the same withdrawal. In March 2018, IGP Ibrahim Idris ordered the same withdrawal, which was also ignored.

On October 21, 2020, IGP Mohammed Adamu gave the same order. In June 2023, Acting IGP Kayode Egbetokun announced that Police Mobile Force (PMF) officers would no longer perform VIP escort and guard duties. In July 2023, he reaffirmed: “The decision … stands firm, and there will be no going back.” In April 2025, IGP Egbetokun restated the commitment. But each time, the enforcement was ignored. The business-as-usual attitude in the Police Special Protection Unit (SPU) in charge of administering the approval and deployments of officers continued.

Indeed, this misallocation of resources led to long-standing abuse, as security and escorts were provided to individuals, contractors, foreigners, businesses and organisations to man gates, guard private homes and businesses, and practically waiting on the private needs of VIPs and anyone with “connections” or who could afford to pay. The result is that officers have been missing in actual police duties as elites indulge in the dangerous and unsustainable attitude of seeing such deployment as entitlement and status symbol needed to massage their ego. It is such that motorbike outriders were available for individuals who could afford it. Some officers even act as domestic servants, carrying bags or umbrellas.

While we regret that all past directives had always fallen to elite resistance, we insist that this must not be a victim. This is because if well implemented, it would help transform the nation’s national security landscape, where police officers return to their primary responsibilities of securing citizens through increased patrol visibility, strengthening crime prevention, improving response times, greatly protecting schools and communities while restoring public confidence in the system.

Going forward, Daily Trust implores President Tinubu to move urgently to ensure that the vacuum created by the police withdrawal is filled responsibly and professionally. And before Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) begins the bazaar of hiring out personnel to criminals and turning it into a money-making venture, there must be clear guidelines on those entitled and for the particular events needed and their duration. This is more so as NSCDC is not primarily designed for VIP protection and, as they lack specialized training and required numbers to be deployed for their new assignment.

Towards this, the president should issue an Executive Order listing Nigerians statutorily entitled to police/NSCDC protection/escorts and the numbers therein. Also, there should be clear modalities for provision of VIP protection by the NSCDC or other armed paramilitary agencies.

The National Assembly should work on the immediate amendment of the Private Guard Companies Act to incorporate Licensed Armed Private Security Protection Units (APSPUs) that would be professionally manned by veterans and other paramilitary services and not by thugs and other hoodlums.

There is no better opportunity for the police to shift from the policing economy in elite protection to public safety than now. We believe that the recalled officers would help strengthen responses which directly benefit ordinary citizens in vulnerable communities that have always experienced limited police presence.

Already, as at November 27, IGP Egbetokun said 11,566 officers have been recalled and redeployed to core policing functions. We at Daily Trust, while supporting the long-overdue directive, however, warn that partial implementation, reversal or uneven enforcement will further undermine public trust.

We therefore urge President Tinubu to show steadfast leadership by ensuring that there is no retreat under pressure by beneficiaries of state-funded personal security. Public safety must be prioritised. Nigeria urgently needs more police patrols, faster response time, increased visibility that would engender safer communities. It is time for the police to revert to its original role of providing internal security, which it has ceded to the military. The era of commercialisation of VIP security or escort provision should be a thing of the past.

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