The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, said on Thursday that the Nigeria Police Force has recalled a total of 11,566 personnel attached to private citizens across the country.
The withdrawal, according to the IGP, followed the order by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The IGP, at a meeting with strategic police officers in Abuja, said the personnel would be redeployed to various states of the federation to beef up security.
Egbetokun, while noting that the withdrawal would be done in phases, said the recent presidential directive withdrawing police personnel from Very Important Persons is a strategic realignment aimed at strengthening frontline policing and protecting vulnerable communities across the country.
The IGP also said that the decision to recall officers from VIP security duties was not driven by sentiment but by the urgent need to channel manpower to areas where public safety demands are highest, saying the move aligns with the core mandate of the Nigeria Police Force, which is the protection of citizens, communities, and public order.
The IGP said: “In line with the President’s directive, we have withdrawn a total of 11,566 personnel from VIP protection. These officers are being redeployed to critical policing duties immediately.”
The IGP, while noting that the withdrawal would enable the police to expand manpower deployment for rural and township security, large-scale population protection, intensified patrols, intelligence-led operations, and rapid response to emerging threats, said that the implementation of the VIP withdrawal directive would be carefully managed to prevent misinformation, impersonation, or exploitation by criminal elements. Detailed guidelines, he said, would be released soon.
According to the IGP: “The recent Presidential directive on the withdrawal of police personnel deployed for VIP protection is a strategic and deliberate realignment of our national policing priorities. This policy decision is rooted not in sentiment, but in necessity reflecting the current security demands of our nation and reinforcing the fundamental purpose for which this Force exists: the protection of our people, the defence of our communities, and the safeguarding of public order.
“It is important to emphasise that this action is a patriotic, forward-looking, and operationally prudent measure designed to strengthen our manpower capacity for critical frontline policing functions.
“With the security environment placing increasing pressure on unprotected populations and vulnerable communities, and in this regard, we wish to assure members of the public that this withdrawal will enable the Force to expand deployment into areas where policing input has the most meaningful public safety outcomes. These include, but are not limited to, large-scale population protection operations, rural and township security fortification, intensified police visibility and patrol spread, investigative response expansion, and tactical containment of emerging violent threats.
“Simply put, this policy ensures that more officers are repositioned from personalised security duties to collective public protection responsibilities, where their presence and operational impact are most urgently required.
“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, or attempt to create narratives that undermine public confidence. To guard against this, the Force will release detailed implementation modalities in due course, outlining clear processes, timelines, safeguards, and accountability measures.
“These modalities will be communicated internally first, and subsequently to the public through the appropriate professional channels, in a structured and controlled manner. This phased approach is necessary to prevent opportunistic actors from weaponising ambiguity, spreading disinformation, or impersonating authority in ways that could distort or compromise the intent of this initiative. We are committed to ensuring that this process strengthens policing, preserves institutional integrity, and eliminates any window for actors who operate outside legitimate security frameworks to mislead or cash in on the transition.
“However, following this announcement a total of 11,566 personnel have been recalled and will be deployed to active policing duties.
“Let me assure you, senior officers, that this is not a retreat from responsibility, but a reclamation of it. It is a statement of who we are, what Nigeria requires of us, and the urgency of our mandate at this time. It is a call to reinforce policing where it truly matters, and to demonstrate clearly, confidently, and publicly that the Nigeria Police Force is not only active in response to threats, but intentional in restructuring for victory against them.”
The IGP, who said recent security incidents — including abductions in Kwara, Kebbi, and Niger states — have reinforced the need to reposition the force and strengthen visibility and deterrence across the country, noted that although security agencies responded swiftly to the recent attacks, the incidents created the impression in some quarters that the police were not doing enough.
“We may not be doing enough, but it is not that we are not working. We are actually doing something. But as leaders, we must hold ourselves to a higher standard.”
Speaking on some of the successes recorded by the police in recent weeks, the IGP announced the arrest of 8,202 suspects for various offences and the rescue of 232 kidnapped victims across the country.
He said: “The Nigeria Police Force has achieved multiple operational outcomes across strategic formations and tactical response structures, including a total of 8,202 suspects who were arrested for various offences. Out of these are 451 armed robbery suspects, 356 kidnapping suspects, 534 murder suspects, 129 murder with culpable homicide suspects, 173 persons for unlawful possession of firearms, 312 suspected rapists, 282 suspected cultists who were also arrested, and 6,095 suspected persons who were arrested for other serious offences.”
He, who said the police recovered a total of 249 firearms, nearly 21,000 rounds of ammunition, and 238 vehicles, said the police were adopting stronger intelligence frameworks, deeper community engagement, and enhanced inter-agency collaboration to outmanoeuvre criminals.
With the Yuletide season approaching, the IGP directed all state police commands to activate enhanced patrols, highway visibility operations, and community-focused policing strategies, including the deployment of drones and AI-driven surveillance tools.
“As we approach the festive season, the nation will witness its highest annual travel status. Citizens returning home to celebrate with family and communities. Criminals will seek to exploit the road. Therefore, the roads must be decisively dominated by visibility policing and preparedness. I hereby charge each state command to activate festive deployment and visibility plans.
“This will include expanded highway patrol teams, reinforced foot patrol units at motor parks, anti-robbery dragnet patrols on high traffic roads, intelligence-backed vehicular patrol fleets for rural corridors, and inter-service collaboration patrols to guarantee route safety across all national highways. This will include further access routes, township entry-exit routes, market transit beds, and community travel corridors.
“Employ the use of artificial intelligence in your policing strategies, including the use of drones and other technical assets. Every command must mark visibility hours and grant presence stretches as performance metrics for December deployment in terms.”