President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday reaffirmed his order to pull police officers off VIPs and return them to core policing, minutes before presiding over the Federal Executive Council at the State House, Abuja.
“I honestly believe in what I said. It should be effected. If you have any problem because of the nature of your assignment, contact the IGP and get my clearance,” Tinubu said, sounding fed up with the slow pace of compliance.
His statement comes a day after the Nobel laureate,Prof. Wole Soyinka, publicly called out Tinubu’s son, Seyi, for going about with a large retinue of security details.
Soyinka, speaking on Tuesday in Lagos, narrated how he encountered the President’s son with “an excessively large security battalion sufficient to take over a small country.”
“I was so astonished that I started looking for the National Security Adviser. I said track him down for me. I think they got him somewhere in Paris. But he was with the President; he was in a meeting.
“Then, I said, ‘ I’ve just seen something I can’t believe, I don’t understand,’ and I described the scene to him. I said, ‘Do you mean that a child of the Head of State goes around with an army for his protection or whatever?’
“I couldn’t believe it. Later on, I did some investigative journalism, and I found that apparently this is how this young man goes around with his battalion, his heavy armed soldiers.”
“I was astonished,” Soyinka said, adding that “children must understand their place. They are not elected leaders, and they must not inherit the architecture of state power simply by proximity.”
Soyinka is seen as one of Tinubu’s major supporters and he had not criticised the President in public until Tuesday.
Speaking at the beginning of Wednesday’s FEC meeting, Tinubnu directed the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, and the Department of State Services to issue further guidance and ensure the directive was effected.
Tinubu said, “The NSA and DSS will provide further information and form themselves the committee and review the structure.”
Furthermore,the President directed the Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, to liaise with the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, and the Nigerian National Security and Civil Defence Corps to immediately replace withdrawn escorts so “you don’t leave people exposed.”
“The Minister of Interior should liase with the IGP and the Civil Defence structure to replace those police officers, who are on special security duties.So that you don’t leave people exposed,” he insisted.
Framing the move as a response to a spike in abductions, the President said, “We are facing challenges of kidnapping. We need all the forces we have on ground, fully utilised.”
He added that while some officials remain vulnerable, civil defence personnel should step in for VIP protection where necessary.
“I know some of our people are exposed and I understand that we have to make exceptional provision for them and civil defence are equally armed and I want to know that from NSA to arm our forest guards too, take it very seriously,” the President stated.
Tinubu also disclosed that forest guards will be armed, saying, “I have directed the NSA to arm our forest guards too. Take it seriously.”
The President also tasked Vice-President Kashim Shettima to use the National Economic Council to identify and rehabilitate grasing reserves into ranches, aiming to defuse farmer-herder flashpoints and formalise the livestock economy.
He directed, “Again, especially livestock reform, I think the Vice President should get the NEC first of all to see which villages or grazing reserves that can be salvaged or rehabilitated into ranches, livestock settlement.
“We must eliminate the possibility of conflicts and turn the livestock reform into economically viable development. The opportunity is there. Let’s utilise it.
“And it is in NEC, if we exercise the constitutional requirement which states that the land belong to the states, which ever one they can salvage convert to livestock village, let us stop this conflict area and turn it to economic opportunities and prosperity.”
Wednesday’s charge came nearly three weeks after an earlier presidential directive to withdraw police details from VIPs and redeploy them to communities and highways, freeing manpower for investigations, patrols and school protection.
The November 23 directive was issued after a security meeting at the State House, Abuja. It followed series of attacks that saw the kidnap of at least 300 people, mostly schoolchildren, across Kebbi, Kwara and Niger states.
“Henceforth, police authorities will deploy them to concentrate on their core police duties,” read a statement signed by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga.
According to Onanuga, Tinubu instructed that “VIPs who want police protection will now request well-armed personnel from the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps.”
Meanwhile, the senator representing Bauchi Central, Abdul Ningi, on Wednesday, protested the withdrawal of his only police orderly.
Speaking on the floor of the Senate, the aggrieved senator insisted that the measure must be implemented uniformly across all privileged Nigerians.
Ningi told his colleagues that while his security aide was withdrawn in compliance with the directive issued by the Presidency and the Inspector General of Police, several high-profile individuals—including top political actors, business moguls, and entertainers—still moved around with full police escorts.
“It should be done across the board. Let us see what happens from the office of the President to the Vice President, the Senate President, the Speaker of the House, ministers, governors, business concerns, and even the sons and daughters of political office holders.
“I have seen singers and foreign business owners with police escorts. But a senator has his only orderly withdrawn? It is unfair,” he protested.
Ningi urged the Senate leadership to mandate its Committee on Police Affairs to investigate what he called “selective enforcement,” stressing that the National Assembly should not be targeted while other influential Nigerians continue to enjoy unrestricted police protection.
Responding, the Deputy Senate President, Barau Jibrin, who presided over the plenary, acknowledged the concerns and disclosed that the issue had already been tabled at a Senate leadership meeting held on Tuesday.
He assured senators that steps had been initiated to engage the relevant authorities.
He directed the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Police Affairs to look into the matter and report back, adding that President Tinubu’s directive was issued to strengthen internal security, not to expose lawmakers.
“The issue you raised is taken seriously. The leadership has agreed that the necessary action should be taken to restore your police orderliness because it aligns with international practice.
“We also believe Mr President will listen, as the directive was not meant to deprive lawmakers unfairly,” Senator Barau said.
Barau reiterated the Senate’s support for the administration’s ongoing security reforms, noting that while the directive was well-intentioned, any signs of selective enforcement must be promptly addressed to maintain public confidence.
