Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, on Thursday, said the recent presidential directive withdrawing police personnel from Very Important Persons (VIPs) is a strategic realignment aimed at strengthening frontline policing and protecting vulnerable communities nationwide.
Speaking at a meeting with senior police commanders in Abuja, Egbetokun said the decision was not influenced by sentiment but by the urgent need to redirect manpower to areas where public safety needs are most critical. He emphasised that the move aligns with the core mandate of the Nigeria Police Force—protecting citizens, communities, and maintaining public order.
He disclosed that 11,566 personnel previously assigned to VIP duties had already been withdrawn and redeployed. “In line with the President’s directive, we have withdrawn a total of 11,566 personnel from VIP protection. These officers are being redeployed to critical policing duties immediately,” he said. The redeployed officers will boost rural and township security, large-scale population protection, intelligence-led operations, intensified patrols, and rapid response to emerging threats.
Egbetokun stressed that the implementation of the directive would be carefully managed to prevent misinformation, impersonation, or exploitation by criminals, adding that detailed guidelines would be released soon. “The withdrawal is not a retreat from responsibility, but a reclamation of it,” he declared. He noted that recent security incidents—including abductions in Kwara, Kebbi, and Niger states—reinforced the need to reposition the police force and strengthen visibility and deterrence across the country.
The IGP said that although security agencies had responded swiftly to recent attacks, the incidents created an impression in some quarters that the police were not doing enough. “We may not be doing enough, but it is not that we are not working. We are actually doing something. But as leaders, we must hold ourselves to a higher standard,” he said.
He highlighted recent operational successes, including the arrest of 8,202 suspects for various offences and the rescue of 232 kidnapped victims. These arrests include 451 armed robbery suspects, 356 kidnapping suspects, 534 murder suspects, 129 culpable homicide suspects, 173 suspects with unlawful firearms, 312 rape suspects, and 282 suspected cultists, among other 6,094 suspects arrested for serious crimes. He also listed the recovery of 249 firearms, nearly 21,000 rounds of ammunition, and 238 vehicles.
Egbetokun said the force is adopting stronger intelligence frameworks, deeper community engagement, and enhanced inter-agency collaboration to outmanoeuvre criminal networks. With the festive season approaching, he directed all state commands to activate enhanced patrols, highway visibility operations, and community-focused policing strategies, including the deployment of drones and AI-powered surveillance tools.
He said the coming weeks would see expanded highway patrols, reinforced foot patrols at motor parks, anti-robbery dragnets on busy roads, intelligence-led vehicular patrols in rural corridors, and joint operations with sister agencies to secure national highways, township entry and exit points, markets, and community travel routes. “Every command must track operational hours and presence metrics as performance indicators for the December deployment,” he ordered.
PUNCH Online reported that President Bola Tinubu on Sunday ordered the withdrawal of police officers from VIP security duties and instructed that they be reassigned to core policing functions. The directive followed a security meeting with service chiefs and the Director-General of the Department of State Services in Abuja.
