FOR years, as News Point Nigeria has repeatedly reported, the wail of sirens and the flash of police escorts slicing through gridlocked Nigerian roads stood as a loud reminder of VIP privilege. Anyone with enough influence or money could stroll into a police command, fill out a form, make the required payments, and walk away with their own armed entourage. From politicians to entertainers and even individuals of questionable repute, the Nigeria Police Force had become a status accessory.
But on November 23, that long-running ease came to a sudden and historic stop.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu issued a directive that sent shockwaves across the corridors of privilege: all police officers assigned to protect Very Important Persons (VIPs) were to be withdrawn with immediate effect.
For the first time in decades, the Nigerian state signaled an intention to take back its police officers from private hands and return them to the communities overwhelmed by insecurity.
Before the order, acquiring police protection was remarkably straightforward. Individuals private citizens or corporate bodies needed only minimal documentation: a request form, a verifiable address, evidence of “good character.” The process that was supposed to involve verification often didn’t. Once payment exchanged hands, officers were assigned, sometimes in batches as large as a dozen.
The service was originally designed for political actors, high-risk individuals, top government officials and celebrities, but over the years it slid into an open-market arrangement. People who had no legal or ethical basis for moving with armed escorts began sporting police details as personal status symbols.
A politician who spoke anonymously recalled watching “people who had no business with police protection” roaming the city with officers in tow.
“Even Yahoo boys, scammers and others were benefiting from such services,” he said. “It had reached a point where it needed to be reviewed.”
Bashir, a personal assistant to a businessman, said he had often hired police escorts for his boss whenever the latter travelled.
“It was routine,” he said. “You just had to pay.”
The demand for police protection soared alongside Nigeria’s worsening security challenges, making uniformed escorts not only a commodity but also a marker of safety and social standing. Meanwhile, police stations across the country sat nearly empty, their few officers overstretched and under-resourced.
Tinubu’s order flipped the equation.
The announcement came during a high-level security meeting at the State House. The President, surrounded by service chiefs, the Inspector-General of Police, and heads of security agencies, declared that the practice had become unsustainable. Too many officers were guarding too few people, leaving too many communities unprotected.
Henceforth, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) would take charge of VIP protection. The Police, Tinubu said, must return to their core mandate: public safety and community policing.
Aides described the President’s tone as firm, almost stern. He worried aloud about how abandoned police posts had become easy targets for bandits and kidnappers, especially in rural areas.
“Boosting police presence in all communities has become urgent and necessary,” the Presidency said.
To reinforce the depleted force, the President approved the recruitment of 30,000 new officers. States would now work with the federal government to overhaul and expand training facilities.
The message was clear: security could no longer be treated as a private luxury.
But not everyone was prepared to surrender their police escorts.
During a heated debate on national security in the House of Representatives, former Deputy Speaker Idris Wase voiced worry that lawmakers were now vulnerable.
“Bandits are threatening and planning to abduct us,” he declared, urging Tinubu to reconsider the withdrawal.
He argued that the President must clarify who qualifies as a VIP, recalling a time when individuals with questionable backgrounds infiltrated security agencies as recruits.
The House’s concerns were heightened by fresh waves of mass abductions; schoolchildren, teachers, and entire communities seized in brazen attacks across Niger, Kebbi, and Kwara states.
The atmosphere in the chamber reflected a growing fear: if the state could not protect its lawmakers, how could it protect ordinary citizens?
The President’s order came at a moment of spiraling insecurity. In the span of one week, multiple school abductions rocked the country. In Niger State, around 300 children and staff were seized from a Catholic school; many remained unaccounted for.
In Kebbi State, armed men stormed a girls’ boarding school, killing staff and abducting nearly two dozen students before security forces intervened to secure their release days later.
The scale of the crisis forced President Tinubu to cancel his planned trip to the G20 summit in South Africa. He chose instead to remain home and coordinate the emergency response.
Behind the policy shift was an urgent national question: Should police officers be guarding politicians and private individuals when schoolchildren are being abducted in droves?
Days after the order, Inspector-General of Police Kayode Egbetokun gathered senior commanders in Abuja. He revealed that over 11,566 officers had already been withdrawn from VIP duties and reassigned to front-line roles.
He called it a reclamation of the police’s true mandate.
“The withdrawal is not a retreat from responsibility,” he said, “but a reclamation of it.”
He acknowledged that the force had suffered from years of manpower distortion, with too many officers assigned to personal escorts while communities remained unsafe. The redeployed officers, he said, would bolster patrols, strengthen response times, and improve general visibility in vulnerable areas.
He also warned of a looming risk: criminals might pretend to be former VIP escorts and exploit unsuspecting individuals. Guidelines were being prepared to prevent abuse.
But as police detachments disappeared from the gates of politicians, businessmen, and party leaders, a new trend emerged instantly: a rush for NSCDC operatives.
Prominent Nigerians began filing applications at Civil Defence offices across the country. Some, like former SDP presidential candidate Prince Adewole Adebayo, were already seen flanked by NSCDC personnel.
Others, including suspended PDP National Secretary Samuel Anyanwu, publicly supported the policy even as they adjusted to the new reality.
“Nigeria is short of police manpower,” Anyanwu said. “But elder statesmen and national officers should be prioritised.
I have applied to the NSCDC for manpower. I even prefer them because they are well trained.”
Despite the transition, some police officers were reportedly sneaking back to old VIP posts, testing the strength of the new directive. But insiders believe this time, the government is determined to enforce it.
The withdrawal of police escorts marks one of the biggest security policy shifts in recent Nigerian history. It has exposed deep tensions about privilege, public safety, and inequality.
It has raised questions about who truly needs protection and who should provide it. It has forced VIPs to grapple with the insecurity that millions of ordinary Nigerians face daily.
For now, police officers are returning to the streets, and the NSCDC is stepping into a more prominent role. Whether this will meaningfully improve security in communities or simply shift privilege from one agency to another remains to be seen.
But for the first time in a long time, Nigeria is confronting a question many had avoided: Should security be a private service for the few, or a public good for all?