A retired Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Adebayo Adeoye, has called for the immediate restoration of the Department of State Services personnel to the Aso Villa to provide close bodyguard protection for President Muhammadu Buhari.
The former DIG noted that the use of soldiers as Presidential guards could expose Buhari to danger and jeopardise his life.
Buhari had on Friday recounted his experience at the Eid praying ground where he was almost mobbed by youths who were anxious to see him, adding that a man with a knife could have attacked him during the tense moment where he managed to escape from the crowd.
Adeoye in a telephone interview on Sunday stated that the incident at the Eid praying ground showed that the soldiers guarding him did not have the requisite experience and skills to protect him.
Adeoye observed that Buhari had to board his official car through the rear left passenger side where the Aide-De-Camp sits, to escape the mob.
The retired police chief said the soldiers guarding the President exposed him to danger by their poor crowd control skills, adding that the DSS operatives would have better protected him because they were trained for such scenarios.
He said, “DSS operatives should be returned to the Villa quickly. They should not endanger the life of the president. Anyone advising the president to use soldiers for his protection didn’t mean well. The president’s life was in danger at the Eid praying ground, he was almost mobbed by the crowd and I hope such a thing would not repeat itself.
“The DSS should be allowed to protect the President, military are not trained for crowd control or close bodyguard protection.
But a former FCT Commissioner of Police, Lawrence Alobi stated that soldiers in mufti could be used as part of the outer layer of presidential security, while the DSS should rather be used for intelligence-gathering.
He disagreed with Adeoye’s stance that the DSS operatives were trained in crowd control, noting that it was only policemen that had such training.
Alobi said, “The President’s security is a collective duty, police should be used for crowd control, DSS should be used for intelligence-gathering and soldiers in mufti could be used for peripheral security because there are different levels of security for the President.
“DSS personnel are not trained for crowd control, only the police can do that. Military intelligence officers in mufti could be used (to protect the President), but soldiers in uniform should not be used, it gives a wrong impression. This is not a military government, so soldiers should not be used, we should not militarise our democracy.”
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