The Federal Government yesterday ordered with immediate effect, withdrawal of police escorts and guards attached to political office holders and very important personalities .
An order has also been placed on all state commands to be at alert, in anticipation of religious crisis in some volatile areas.
The Inspector General of Police, Mike Mbama Okiro, stated this yesterday at the Louis Edet House, Abuja while addressing senior police officers from the rank of Commissioners of police and above.
Okiro said, �an order came from above that we should withdraw police escorts and police guards attached to some political office holders and VIPs with immediate effect. It has been found out that some of these people have been abusing the privilege. The directive now is that all policemen be withdrawn from everybody. We are going to give you (commissioners of Police) guidelines for those that are entitled to police guards, to ensure that you comply with the directive.�
Okiro said, the authorities have discovered that �some businessmen involved in shady deals have been using policemen to settle scores and cause all sorts of atrocities. Henceforth, this shall no longer be tolerated. We are going to sanction any commissioner of police who flouts this directive or undermines the authority.�
On the need for security alert, he said an incident that would have resulted in a religious crisis was recently averted at the University of Maiduguri . He therefore, ordered all police commissioners to ensure that a unit of their command is always on stand by 24 hours, to avert crisis, as well as tackle emergency situations.
Nov302007