The Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, on Thursday said the recalled 11,566 police personnel have been redeployed to underserved and vulnerable communities across the country, effective immediately.
Egbetokun, addressing senior police officers in Abuja, described recent kidnappings and school attacks as clear signs that criminal networks are studying national vulnerabilities more aggressively than before.
He cited the 38 worshippers abducted in Kwara, the 25 schoolgirls kidnapped in Kebbi, and the abduction of 303 students of St Mary’s Catholic School in Niger State on 21st November, 2025, as evidence of a new, deliberate assault strategy targeting soft, unprotected spaces.
He noted that the force would not thrive on excuses and wouldn’t relent until all vulnerable communities are protected, adding that peace maintained in one location but violated in another is not peace.
The IGP said the incidents triggered public fear and created “a momentary impression that we are not working” but stressed that commanders must hold themselves to a higher standard because “peace maintained in one location but violated in another is not peace.”
He insisted that every affected child must be rescued unharmed before the Force can claim progress.
Egbetokun outlined a sweeping recalibration of policing strategy, warning that criminals have grown more sophisticated and must be outmanoeuvred, not merely confronted.
He directed Commands to build deeper native intelligence networks embedded in markets, transport unions, student bodies, farming clusters and religious institutions, insisting that modern crime-fighting “is won first in the field of intelligence.”
The new policing blueprint includes “a community-driven intelligence pipeline, structured visibility patrol dominance, micro-policing sectors, night confidence patrol teams, joint tactical operations with sister agencies, expanded drone deployment and AI-assisted surveillance, and monthly inter-agency intelligence roundtables, especially in high-risk states.”
The IGP warned that fragmented security structures “create opportunity for criminals”, insisting that inter-agency rivalry must give way to unified operations, joint map-based planning, security synergy, and consolidated intelligence-sharing.
A major component of the new framework is the enforcement of President Tinubu’s directive to withdraw police personnel from VIP protection.
Describing it as a strategic manpower rescue for the nation, Egbetokun confirmed that “Eleven thousand five hundred and sixty-six (11,566) personnel have been recalled and will be redeployed to frontline policing duties.”
He warned that the directive must be implemented carefully to prevent impersonation, misinformation, or exploitation by criminal actors seeking to manipulate the transition.
The IGP also released new national policing performance figures, describing them as evidence of operational capacity.
According to him, officers recorded “8,202 arrests,” including 451 armed robbery suspects, 356 kidnap suspects, 534 murder/culpable homicide suspects, and 173 persons for unlawful possession of firearms.”
The Force also recovered “249 firearms, 2,989 rounds of ammunition, and 238 vehicles and rescued 232 kidnap victims.”
With the festive season approaching, Egbetokun ordered all commands to activate highway and rural travel-corridor security grids, warning that criminals often exploit increased holiday movement.
He directed the deployment of AI-backed highway patrol fleets, expanded foot patrols in markets and motor parks, inter-service collaborative dragnet operations on dangerous routes, and visibility logs that will serve as performance metrics for December.
The IGP warned that the country cannot afford “policing pauses” at a time of heightened threat.
He urged commissioners to return to their states with “urgency, clarity of strategy, courage of command, and determination of execution,” insisting that Nigeria depends on a police force that works ahead of criminal strategy, not behind it.
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