The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has described President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s directive ordering the withdrawal of police officers from VIP protection as mere political theatre, insisting that the move will do little to address Nigeria’s deepening security crisis.
In a statement signed by its spokesperson, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the party said the administration’s return to the “same old rhetoric” reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of the complexity of the nation’s security challenges and the type of intervention required.
The party stressed the need for a comprehensive national security strategy that mobilises and integrates all security agencies into a unified counter-insurgency force.
The full statement reads:
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has dismissed the recent announcement by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu directing the withdrawal of police personnel from VIP duties.
While the directive may generate favourable headlines, it is neither new nor demonstrates a proper understanding of the true nature and complexity of Nigeria’s worsening security crisis. A nation grappling with terrorism, banditry, mass abductions, and violent crime cannot afford to mistake public relations gestures for policy action.
To begin with, this is not the first time such an order has emanated from the APC-led government. In 2025 alone, similar directives have been issued twice by the Inspector-General of Police—undoubtedly on the President’s instructions—yet no meaningful enforcement followed.
Even if the President succeeds this time in withdrawing police personnel from VIP duty, the deeper concern remains: by training, orientation, and current capacity, the police are fundamentally ill-equipped to tackle the scale of the emergency confronting the nation.
Thus, while the gesture may appeal to populist sentiments, it does not in any way address the root of the problem.
The government claims the move will free up 100,000 officers for core policing duties. But the issue is not numerical strength. Even the military, despite superior training and equipment, is struggling to match the sophistication, organisation, and adaptability of insurgent groups—much less a police force that is under-equipped, under-trained, and poorly motivated for counter-insurgency operations.
It is even more puzzling that while police are being withdrawn from VIP protection, they are being replaced by personnel from the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), an agency whose primary mandate includes disaster management, community protection, and public safety education—not high-risk VIP protection.
Nigeria’s security challenges require a comprehensive solution, not cosmetic tinkering. What the country needs is not the reshuffling of personnel for media attention, but a coherent national security strategy anchored on modernisation, intelligence-driven operations, and institutional integration.
For the Nigeria Police Force—and indeed all security agencies—to be effective, they must be restructured, reequipped, and retrained to confront modern security threats with appropriate tools and operational systems. This work is urgent, and half-measures will not suffice.
Furthermore, the government owes Nigerians clarity. Where is the evidence to support the claim that 100,000 officers have been withdrawn from VIP duty? What is the operational plan for their redeployment? What tools, logistics, and systems have been put in place to ensure that officers accustomed to VIP escort duties can transition into effective field operatives?
Redeploying personnel without a clear role within a broader and well-defined counter-insurgency framework is not only ineffective—it is meaningless.
The ADC therefore maintains that if the Tinubu administration is genuinely committed to securing the nation, it must move beyond pronouncements and press briefings and begin a holistic overhaul of Nigeria’s national security architecture.
