The Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, has clarified that the recent presidential directive ordering the withdrawal of police officers assigned to Very Important Personalities (VIPs) nationwide does not extend to judicial officers.
This was made known by her media aide, Tobi Soniyi, who noted that judges remain exempt from the nationwide police redeployment order, which was aimed at addressing rising insecurity by redeploying personnel to frontline duties.
Despite the exemption, the Chief Judge of Taraba State, Justice Joel Agya, on Tuesday raised the alarm that police orderlies attached to judges in the state had been withdrawn without prior notice.
He warned that the development posed a serious security threat, particularly to judicial officers presiding over sensitive criminal, political, terrorism, and corruption cases.
Agya said, “Firstly, it is a threat to judges’ security and personal safety. Secondly, it undermines judicial independence. Judicial independence is not only the absence of interference but also protection from intimidation.”
Justice Agya said the withdrawal was contrary to an earlier agreement that judges and governors would be excluded from the directive due to their entitlement to security protection.
Reacting to the concerns, the Commissioner of Police in Taraba State, Betty Isokpan, denied that orderlies had been withdrawn from judges.
She explained that only personal police escorts and guards who accompany VIPs on non-essential trips were affected by the new policy.
“Every court is expected to have a court duty police officer who stays during proceedings. We have only withdrawn police escorts who accompany VIPs to places like Sokoto, Lagos, and Kaduna, in compliance with the Inspector-General’s directive,” Isokpan said.
Meanwhile, CJN’s spokesperson, Soniyi, said no other Chief Judge aside from Taraba’s had reported similar issues, adding that the CJN’s office had not been officially informed about the withdrawal of police from judges.
“Other chief judges have not said so,” he noted, expressing surprise at the development in Taraba.
The federal government’s directive to withdraw police officers from VIPs is part of a broader effort to address personnel shortages in policing high-crime areas nationwide.