Abduction Season: Tinubu Pulls 100,000 Policemen From VIPs

According to the PUNCH, no fewer than 100,000 police officers attached to Very Important Persons and politicians will be withdrawn and redeployed to core policing duties, including counter-insurgency operations, as part of a strategy to rout the terrorists rampaging across the country.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, attended by Service Chiefs and the Director-General of the Department of State Services.

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, while fewer personnel are available for public protection.

Despite several promises by successive Inspectors-General to withdraw the police officers on orderly duties, this has not been done.

A report published in November 2025 by the European Union Agency for Asylum, noted that the Nigeria Police Force has an estimated strength of 371,800 officers serving a population of about 236.7 million people.

It stated that the country’s policing deficits are worsened by the diversion of a significant portion of available personnel to VIP protection rather than community policing and crime prevention.

The report said, “Both recent sources and sources dating back as far as 2007 claimed that the NPF had an estimated strength of 371,800, serving a total population estimated in 2024 at 236,747,130. Many parts of Nigeria, especially remote areas, have few policemen at the stations, thus making the task of protecting and defending the people difficult.’’

Last Thursday, The PUNCH, in an editorial, again demanded the redeployment of policemen offering protection to prominent individuals and politicians.

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.