Police officers attached to Very Important Persons (VIPs) have been again ordered to cease offering security services to VIPs.
The latest order contained in a police wireless message dated October 21 with reference number, CB:4001/DOPS/SPU/FHQ/ABU/VOL./ORDER AND Directives, comes ten days after the dissolution of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad SARS.
It reads in part: “Any protect personnel found escorting or guarding any VIP with or without a firearm is deemed to be deployed by the commander and the commander will be sanctioned.”
However, IGP Mohammed Adamu did not order the withdrawal of officers attached to Government Houses, the Senate President and the Speaker House of Representatives.
It is worthwhile to note that the latest order is not the first of its kind as police authorities have twice made such orders in the last two years.
In February 2019, the IGP announced withdrawal of its personnel attached to VIPs.
Also in 2018, the former Inspector General of Police Ibrahim Idris ordered an immediate withdrawal of police officers attached to political office holders and VIPs.
The demand for officers to be withdrawn from private use has become a trend with successive inspectors-General in the last decade.
In fact, the order is as unstable and similar to directives for officers to stop mounting roadblocks in the country.
There is growing concerns regarding why Police chiefs have not openly explained the reason why their orders often fall flat.
In 2018 a body that regulates the force – the Police Service Commission (PSC), said the implementation of such orders were more difficult than an IGP would admit.
According to the then chairman of the PSC, Mike Okiro, “the police lacked the resources to withdraw personnel from private actors”.
