ABUJA (Sundiata Post) – One Love Foundation and its convener, Patriot Patrick Eholor, has expressed concerns over the rising use of VIP Protection Unit.
They have consequently called for the disbandment of the Unit that had in recent times been deployed in fostering mannerless patronages.
The call was contained in a letter by theur Counsel, Mr Robert Igbinedion, addressed to the Inspector General of Police, Mr Kayode Egbetokun, dated February 16, 2024.
The letter reads: “The Nigeria Police Force was established under the Constitution of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) as a law enforcement agency of the Executive arm of the Federal Government of Nigeria and are bound by various provisions of the Constitution in their establishment and day to day activities including provisions of Chapter 4 Section 42of the Constitution and as well as Fifth Schedule thereof amongst other binding provisions. For avoidance of doubt permit us to reproduce the Provisions of C Section 42 (1)
“A citizen of Nigeria of a particular community, either ethnic, place of origin, sex, religion, or political opinion shall not only that he is such a person:- b). Be accorded either expressly by, or in the practical application of any law in force in Nigeria or any executive or administrative action, any privileged or advantage that is not accorded to citizens of other communities, ethnic groups, places of origin, sex, religion or political opinion.”
“Section 15 (2) states of the Constitution provides ‘Accordingly, national integration shall be actively encouraged, Whilst discrimination on grounds of place of origin, sex, religion. Status, ethnic or linguistic association or ties shall be prohibited’.
“As a country, we are far behind in meeting the United Nations recommendation for number of Police needed to Police the citizenry, one wonders why the little we have are being hijacked by a few privileged individuals under the Illegal and unconstitutional VIP protection unit and Policy presently being implemented by the Nigerian Police Force under your Command where individuals and organization after having paid money to police officers and their superiors get the benefit of having publicly funded Police Officers attached to themselves to act as status symbol and perform many domestic chores for them.
“If this figure divided by 8,813 electoral wards that will give an average of about 20 Police personnel per ward, some rural communities have up to two(2) wards meaning that they can be allocated up to forty (40) police officers. Some fairly big communities have up to four (4) wards meaning that up to Eighty (80) Police personnel can be posted there to man the area.
“However, the Police are hardly visible and accessible to the ordinary Nigerians and various communities in time of need because of the so called Illegal and unconstitutional VIP protection Unit which was inherited by your office and which you continue to implement.
“It may interest you to know that a foreigner coming into Nigeria can easily arrange to have Police escort lead him out of the Airport to any part of the Country while there are several communities in Nigeria who cannot get Police presence despite years of request
“There exist several police Stations/Post which were constructed by efforts of communities in Nigeria and left unused for several years as officers has not been posted there.
“In many instances, there are more Police Officers attached to individuals than are available at the Police Station whose Jurisdiction covers entire Local Government Area.
“Over the years, successive Inspector General of Police have tinkered with the lofty idea of doing the right thing by scrapping the VIP Protection unit, so that personnel can be posted equitably to all nooks and crannies of Nigeria like it is done in all civilized countries but it ended up becoming worse. I am sorry to 7:55 AM things are getting from bad to worse under your watch, have to do the right thing even if the havens fall. 5.35 576
“Recently Prince Harry, the second son of King of England who presently live in the United States of America applied for special police to protect him whenever he comes back home and offered to pay for the services but the application was refused and even his eventual lawsuit challenging the refusal decision was also refused by court with a fine of Fifty Thousand Pounds awarded against him as Legal Cost. But if today Prince Harry were to come to Nigeria, he will have several motorcades and convoy of Policemen at the click of a finger for as long as he wants.
“The very idea of having a VIP protection unit is unconstitutional and illegal, more illegal is the now entrenched practice where VIPs pay individual Police officers because it is against the Code of Conduct as enshrined in the Constitution.
“More worrisome is the fact that most of the VIPs already live in bullet proof houses and drive bullet proof cars, hence they pay for and use police escort as a mere status symbol, merely helping with house chores, acting as drivers and running errands for the VIPs, their wives and children since they hardly spend time in Nigeria, leaving the officers redundant several months in a year.
“The ills, illegality and unconstitutionality of not distributing Nigerian Police Officers in line Constitution and the needs of the Nigerian populace is too numerous to mention here.
“We humbly demand that the policy should be scrapped and discontinued with immediate effect in order not to continue to insult the collective psyche of Nigerians tax payers who understand how the Police functions in civilized climes.”
