Elections: PDP, APC heavyweights, others lose security aides as police withdraw 20,000 operatives

Policemen attached to politicians in the ruling All Progressives
Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party as well as others serving
Very Important Persons in the country will be withdrawn ahead of
the February 16 elections.

The Force spokesperson, ACP Frank Mba, told PUNCH on Friday that
the withdrawal of policemen would affect all categories of VIPs,
including state commissioners, businessmen and individuals with
police aides.

He said, “The withdrawal of policemen is going to cut across all
borders, including politicians, party chairmen, state commissioners
and businessmen. It will affect everyone that has policemen
attached to them.”

Asked to give the number of personnel that may be affected by
the exercise, Mba said he could not provide an estimate.

“I cannot estimate but there are two basic rationale for the
withdrawal of policemen; One, we need all hands on deck for the
purpose of securing the electoral process.

“Number two, we also need to be proactive in ensuring that
unscrupulous people do not hide under the cover of security or
policemen providing security to create problems during the
elections. These are some of the reasons we need to mop up as many
policemen as possible,” he explained.

Saturday PUNCH however gathered from other sources that over
20,000 Special Protection Unit operatives of the force and riot
policemen attached to prominent Nigerians would be recalled and
deployed for election duties by police authorities.

Some security sources said the number of policemen that would be
withdrawn might be as high as 35,000 because the Nigeria Police
Force would play leading role in providing security during the
elections.

“The Strategic Election Security Operational Plan is a big,
complex operation requiring huge deployments; so, all hands must be
on deck to ensure its success. The number of men to be recalled
from private security duties could be huge, maybe as high as 35,000
or more,” a source stated.

The Acting Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, had
earlier given a hint during a meeting with Counter-Terrorism Unit
and SPU commanders at the force headquarters in Abuja on
Wednesday.

He had explained that the recalled men would provide security
for local and international election observers, escort sensitive
electoral materials and also protect critical national assets
during the exercise.

Adamu said, “In order to ensure full mobilisation and deployment
of personnel for these duties, we shall in the coming days prune
down or order the withdrawal of SPU and CTU operatives that are
currently on non-essential duties including those attached to
certain categories of personalities.”

Within the context of the Strategic Election Security
Operational Plan of the Force, the IG said the recalled operatives
would be deployed to provide specialised protection for electoral
officials, including ad hoc personnel of the Independent National
Electoral Commission.

He added that the officers would also be part of the operatives
that would secure INEC’s facilities across the country while some
of them would patrol the public space before, during and after the
elections.

It was gathered that some of them would act as a reserve force
that could be deployed for rapid response to crisis areas during
the elections.

Over 50,000 policemen are attached to private individuals
including politicians, businessmen, former governors and senators
and Very Important Persons across the country.

Past IGs had pledged to reduce the number of policemen attached
to influential individuals but lacked the political will to do
so.

The beneficiaries of police protection are known to pay the
police authorities for the security services provided by the
cops.