In a dramatic enforcement of a major presidential directive, the Nigerian military has apprehended four senior police officers who were allegedly providing an illegal escort service to a Very Important Person. The arrest, which took place on the morning of December 17, 2025, directly challenges the authority of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu's recent order that withdrew police personnel from VIP protection duties.
According to security insiders, the crackdown unfolded when military personnel intercepted the escort detail. The four officers—identified as Assistant Superintendent of Police Musa Waziri, and Inspectors Jeremiah Achimogu, Awipi Terry, and Hassan Baba—were not in standard police uniform. Instead, they were reportedly wearing attire resembling that of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), a disguise suspected to be a deliberate attempt to circumvent the presidential ban and evade detection by enforcement teams.
The backdrop to this incident is a sweeping federal government policy aimed at overhauling national security priorities. Earlier this year, President Tinubu mandated the immediate withdrawal of police officers from unauthorized VIP protection details. The strategic objective is to redeploy thousands of officers from personal guard duty back to core policing functions: combating rising crime, bolstering community patrols, and addressing widespread internal security challenges.
The arrested officers have been detained, and formal disciplinary proceedings have been initiated against them. This case marks one of the first public, high-level enforcements of the controversial order, signaling a no-tolerance stance towards defiance within the ranks. It highlights the ongoing tension between entrenched practices of elite protection and a government determined to reallocate its most visible security assets to serve the broader public.
The incident raises pointed questions about compliance, enforcement, and the powerful interests accustomed to a certain style of security that the state is now trying to reclaim.
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