NewStats: 3,262,075 , 8,176,016 topics. Date: Saturday, 31 May 2025 at 05:45 PM 2p5vl

Leon Usigbe - Abuja


SOLDIERS who have been providing close body protection for President Muhammadu Buhari have been disengaged from the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

They have been replaced by personnel of the Department of State Services (DSS) just as it was in previous dispensations.

It was learnt that the president authorised the redeployment before he left for his medical vacation in the United Kingdom.

The deployment of the soldiers to protect the president at the inception of his istration in 2015 generated heated controversy as both his then Chief Security Officer (CSO) and DSS personnel, Abdulraman Mani, and the Aide de Camp (ADC) to the President, Colonel Lawal Abubakar, were involved in public spat.

While Mani argued that it was the responsibility of the DSS to provide close body protection to the president while of other services could man the outer protection ring, Abubakar insisted on having military personnel as close bodyguards.

At the heat of the disagreement between the two top security aides to the president, Mani wrote a well publicised memo dated Friday, June 26, 2015, arguing against the position of the ADC’s directive to have soldiers close to the president.

He backed up his claim with relevant portions of the constitution and copied National Security Adviser (NSA), the Chief of Defence Staff and the Director-General of the DSS.

Aspects of the memo read: “In fact, the issues raised in the aforementioned (ADC’s) circular tend to suggest that the author may have ventured into a not-too-familiar terrain.

“The extant practice, the world over, is that VIP protection, which is a specialised field, is usually handled by the Secret Service, under whatever nomenclature.

“They usually constitute the inner core security ring around every principal. The Police and the military by training and mandate are often required to provide secondary and tertiary security cordons around venues and routes.

“However, all other security agencies, including the army, the police and others, also have their roles to play. It is on this note that heads of all security agencies currently in the Presidential Villa and their subordinates are ened to key into the existing command and control structure. They are to work in harmony with each other in full and strict compliance with the demands of their statutorily prescribed responsibilities.

“Meanwhile, t training programmes and other incentives will be worked out in the days ahead to ensure that all security personnel at the Presidential Villa are properly educated to understand their statutory roles and responsibilities.

“This is with a view to avoiding obvious grandstanding, overzealousness, limited knowledge or outright display of ignorance in future.”

Buhari, who sided with the ADC, retained the soldiers and relived Mani of his appointment.

It was gathered that the President has apparently made a u-turn having been inundated with reports of lapses on the part of the military bodyguards.

The present CSO, Bashir Abubakar, was also said to have expressed reservations about the handling of the president’s protection by the soldiers.

With the redeployment of the soldiers, DSS personnel now man all the security points that were previously the responsibility of the soldiers in the Presidential Villa.

http://tribuneonlineng.com/buhari-sacks-army-bodyguards-aso-rock/

Getting it right, slow n steadly.

Let em go straight to sambisa no short-cut.

I stil prefer d soldiers to d DSS ...becus d nigerian army z a prestigious institution with d sole mandate to protect d country and it citizens ...with their skill training dy shud be able to handle d security at d aso villa dan letting sum civilian Parading demselves as DSS officers doing d job meant of d military
GOD BLESS THE NIGERIAN ARMY.

No comementus,...next

Our emperor has gone mad again...

USE LESS VEGETABLE

wahala is cooking somewhere oh!

Abi ein no trust the soja's again?

abi ein dey fear buratai?

Sacking his bodyguard is more important to him right now or attending to the request of Nigerians for his speech from u.k

but where is the President?

mtcheew

Lolz

His ish

They probably infected him or perhaps they were tinubus men who play to tinubus gallery and hence,they can no longer be trusted

Abeg which Buhari?

Sack all the way from his sick bed in UK?






Wonderful!

BUHARI na idiot, directionless and clueless.

Always going against the rules.

U mean he disangaged them before he left abi na bashir lawal sign that one..

It reminds me of that same thing aisha was complaining about..

conflict of interest

This what happen when the president is not around to be bodyguarded.....in order to cut out expenses.

Here we go.

Mamman Daura, I see you nigga
DeFacto VP

Mtcheeeeeew... clueless president

He can't address the Nation as regards the state of his health, but he can sack bodyguards?

Kontinu, God will judge....

unclezuma:




Our emperor has gone mad again...

No be small mad oh,

the run away soldiers should go to borno state