By Yahaya Umar, Abuja
Following President Bola Tinubu’s recent order to withdraw police officers attached to highly placed Nigerians, otherwise known Very Important Persons, VIPs, the Inspector-General of Police, IGP, Mr Kayode Egbetokun, has said that 11,566 personnel have been recalled in line with the presidential directive.
Egbetokun, who said this yesterday, in Abuja, at a conference with Strategic Police Managers consisting of officers from the rank of Commissioners and above.
added that the recalled officers would be deployed to active police entities immediately.
According to him, the presidential order was to ensure that more officers were repositioned from personalised security duties to collective public protection responsibilities where their presence and operational impact were urgently required.
In this vein, he, noted that “However, while we move decisively to implement this directive, we must also act responsibly to manage its execution.
“We are mindful of the risk of misinterpretation, misinformation and exploitation by undesirable elements who may seek to capitalise on the situation for personal or political advantage.
“To guard against this, the force will release detailed implementation modalities in due course, outlining clear processes, timelines, safeguards and accountability measures”.
The IGP said the modalities would be communicated internally first, and subsequently to the public through the appropriate professional channels in a structured and controlled manner.
The approach was necessary to prevent opportunistic actors from weaponising ambiguity, spreading disinformation, or impersonating authority in ways that could distort or compromise the intent of the initiative, Egbetokun stated.
” We are committed to ensuring that this process fences policing, preserves institutional integrity, and eliminates any window for actors who operate outside legitimate security frameworks”, he said.
Besides, the he cautioned senior police officers against rivalry, saying that this helps crime while security synergy breaks it.
Commissioners of Police, CPs, must operationalise real partnerships, not ceremonial alliances, he said.
He then urged Commissioners of Police to embrace joint tactical patrols, shared intelligence briefings and operations backed by military cover when required.
Egbetokun, further called for interagency operations in high-threat states, joint smart-based operational planning and unified response architectures.
“You must link monthly intelligence roundtables between state security authorities and establish joint tactical operations plans after every major attack”, the IGP said.
Egbetokun further called for joint-route domination patrols with the Nigerian armed forces and integration of strategic information exchange with other security agencies.
He also canvassed for expansion of lawful border-cracking strategies, especially in frontier states like Kebbi, Niger, Sokoto and neighboring security theaters.
