Former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has lauded the decision by the police authorities to withdraw their personnel providing security for some privileged private citizens.
In a statement by his media adviser Paul Ibe in Abuja on Tuesday, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain observed that the 150, 000 police personnel withdrawn from the privileged citizens will come handy in providing security for schools in the North-east and other troubled zones of the country.
The former Vice President recalled that he had earlier called for the withdrawal of the police personnel from private individuals, adding that he is glad that the authorities have heeded his call.
He said: “That Nigeria has a security emergency cannot be overstated. Our security forces are overstretched. We do not have enough military and paramilitary forces to provide security for the peace-loving people of Nigeria, which is why the recent Government Girls Science and Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe State kidnapping occurred. Their school was left unguarded.”
The statement also recalled that Atiku had earlier suggested the reassigning of the 150,000 policemen guarding private citizens to core police duties.
“Recently, the Chairman of the Police Service Commission, Chief Mike Okiro, revealed that 150,000 policemen are guarding various elites and those we know as ‘big men’. If I had my way, I would have recalled all of those 150,000 policemen who are not performing core police duties and send them to provide security for every school in the North-east region. That, to me, would be a better use of their time and services.
“We already know that Boko Haram has an agenda to cripple Western education in Nigeria. So how could we have left those schools unguarded? Why should the police be guarding VIPs who can afford personal guards and leave vulnerable girls unguarded? We are spending billions of Naira trying to encourage girls to go to school only to allow them to be abducted by terrorists,” the statement quoted Atiku as saying.
The Waziri Adamawa reiterated his call on the President Muhammadu Buhari government to “be open to solutions from well-meaning Nigerians and friends of Nigeria so we can navigate this nation away from the precipice.”