By Charles Pemu 
ABUJA, NIGERIA – President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday forcefully reaffirmed his earlier order to withdraw police officers attached to Very Important Persons (VIPs) and redeploy them to core policing duties, expressing frustration over the slow pace of compliance.
Minutes before presiding over the Federal Executive Council (FEC) at the State House, the President sounded a warning: “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.”
The President framed the urgent redeployment as a direct response to the recent spike in abductions, stating, “We are facing challenges of kidnapping. We need all the forces we have on the ground, fully utilised.”
NSCDC to Replace Police, Forest Guards to be Armed
To ensure that VIPs are not left exposed, President Tinubu directed the Minister of Interior, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, to liaise with the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, and the National Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) to immediately replace the withdrawn police escorts. The President was emphatic: “The minister of interior should liaise [with the] IG 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 further instructed the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, and the Department of State Services (DSS) to issue further guidance, review the structure, and ensure the directive is swiftly implemented.
In a major security shift, the President also disclosed that he has directed the NSA to arm forest guards, noting that civil defence personnel should step in for VIP protection where necessary. “I have directed the NSA to arm our forest guards, too. Take it seriously,” the President stated.
Wednesday’s renewed charge comes nearly three weeks after the initial November 23 directive to free up manpower for investigations, patrols, and school protection.
The urgency was amplified following comments made by Nobel Laureate Professor Wole Soyinka just hours earlier. Speaking at the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism Awards in Lagos on Tuesday, Soyinka described seeing an “excessively large security battalion assigned to a young individual close to the Presidency,” an entourage he said was “sufficient to take over a small country.” He later revealed the young man turned out to be Seyi Tinubu, the President’s son.
Soyinka recounted that he immediately tried to track down the NSA to describe the scene, questioning how “a child of the head of state goes around with an army for his protection or whatever.”
In a separate but related directive aimed at addressing root causes of conflict, President Tinubu tasked Vice-President Kashim Shettima to use the National Economic Council (NEC) to identify and rehabilitate grazing reserves into ranches. This move is aimed at defusing farmer-herder flashpoints and formalizing the livestock economy.
“We must eliminate the possibility of conflicts and turn the Livestock reform into economically viable development,” Tinubu said, calling on the NEC to exercise its constitutional requirement over land ownership to convert suitable grazing reserves into sustainable Livestock villages and ranches.