CISLAC Boss Pressures Tinubu to Enforce Non-Selective Withdrawal of Police Escorts for VIPs

|By Chinwendu Nwani

The Executive Director of the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Auwal Rafsanjani, has urged President Bola Tinubu to ensure the recently ordered withdrawal of police protection for Very Important Persons (VIPs) is applied fairly and without favour.

Rafsanjani issued the caution on Monday during an interview on The Morning Brief, a Channels Television programme, where he criticised the long-standing imbalance in police deployment across the country.

He warned that selective enforcement would defeat the purpose of the directive, noting that some individuals still move around with “unnecessary escorts—even to clubs and lounges—while many communities lack basic police presence.”

Rafsanjani argued that pulling police officers from private VIP protection would release much-needed manpower to secure vulnerable towns and villages currently exposed to banditry and other forms of criminality. He lamented the “misplaced priorities” that assign officers to powerful individuals while ordinary citizens remain unprotected.

He also condemned the inefficiency of highway checkpoints, saying criminal activities quickly resume once motorists drive past police posts. His remarks follow President Tinubu’s announcement on Sunday ordering the withdrawal of police officers attached to VIPs nationwide.