Outrage as Tinubu’s VIP police withdrawal sparks fresh security fears
A former deputy speaker of the house of representatives, Idris Wase, on Wednesday raised the alarm that bandits are now threatening to abduct members of the national assembly.
Wase issued the warning during renewed debates on national security in the green chamber, urging President Bola Tinubu to urgently review his directive ordering the withdrawal of police escorts from Very Important Personalities (VIPs).
The president had, on Sunday, instructed the police to recall officers attached to VIPs so they could return to core policing duties. Under the new arrangement, VIPs seeking armed security are to rely on personnel from the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), not the police.
The presidency said the move was aimed at boosting police presence in underserved communities where attacks remain rampant. But Wase insisted the decision needed clearer categorisation of VIPs, recalling a period when Boko Haram suspects were found among security recruits.
The security concerns come amid a disturbing wave of abductions across the country.
More than 1,500 schoolchildren have been kidnapped in Nigeria since the 2014 Chibok abductions shocked the world. The crisis has surged again, with at least 300 children and staff taken from St Mary’s Catholic boarding school in Niger State on Friday. According to the Christian Association of Nigeria, around 250 of them remain missing.
The attack was the third mass abduction in a single week, forcing President Tinubu to cancel his planned trip to the G20 summit in South Africa to address the worsening situation.
In Kebbi State, 24 schoolgirls abducted earlier in November were freed after armed men stormed their boarding school, killing two staff members and seizing 25 students. One girl escaped immediately, but the circumstances surrounding the release of the remaining victims remain unclear.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, has battled relentless waves of kidnappings in recent years, with hundreds of schoolchildren still unaccounted for as security agencies struggle to contain the crisis.