Former Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG), Abutu Yaro, has cautioned the Federal Government on President Tinubu’s directive to withdraw police personnel from Very Important Persons (VIPs), saying such should be carried Iwith extreme care to avoid “regrettable fallouts.”
Yaro’s warning comes just days after President Tinubu ordered the Special Protection Unit (SPU) of the Nigeria Police Force to withdraw all officers attached to VIPs and beats nationwide.
The directive, aimed at redeploying officers to core policing duties in understaffed communities, mandates that VIPs seeking armed protection should instead apply to the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).
Speaking during an appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Wednesday, the retired police chief expressed serious reservations about the plan.
“We must emphasise strongly that we implement it (withdrawal of police from VIPs) with serious caution,” Yaro stated. “If not, the fallout of a hasty implementation of this directive will be regrettable in many respects and we have historical antecedents to these mindsets.”
To underscore the potential dangers, Yaro pointed to the assassinations of prominent figures like the former Attorney General of the Federation, Bola Ige, and politician Funsho Williams, who were killed after being left vulnerable without adequate security details.
A key point of contention raised by the former AIG is the proposed role of the NSCDC. He argued that the corps is not designed to function as an alternative VIP protection service.
“The fact that they said civil defence should come in does not really work in that way. Civil defence all over the world are designed to take care of civilians in terms of national emergencies,” Yaro explained. “They are not designed to protect the VIP and act as an alternative security platform to the police.”
He likened the substitution to asking a nurse to perform the duties of a doctor, reiterating that the move requires careful handling.
When asked if he would have taken a different approach, Yaro affirmed that he would not have ordered the police withdrawal from VIPs, whom he described as “a very important segment of our nationhood.” Instead, he proposed increasing police numbers and enhancing their training as a more sustainable solution.
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