The Nigerian Senate has expressed serious concerns over the withdrawal of Police orderlies attached to senators, worried that the move could expose members to unnecessary danger.

Worried about the situation, Deputy President of the Senate , Barau Jibrin disclosed that the leadership of the Senate held an emergency meeting on the issue on Tuesday, with the hope of positive feedback as it seeks to secure
exemption for lawmakers from the Presidential directive.

President Bola Tinubu had on the 23rd of November issued a stern directive calling for the withdrawal of Police officers attached to “Very Important Persons”, VIPs in the country to make available more hands to tackle Nigeria’s internal security challenges.

About 11, 000 police officers are currently engaged on such assignments across the country.

The push for possible exemption for Senators followed a Point of Order by Senator, Abdul Ningi, (PDP, Bauchi Central), who lamented the withdrawal of his lone police orderly in compliance with the directive of the President.

Ningi said while he has no issues with the withdrawal , he expressed disappointment at the manner the directive of the President is being flouted and called for a strict compliance with the directive starting from the Presidency, the Office of the Vice President , and Federal Ministers.

The Bauchi Senator said while his own police orderly has been withdrawn, he continues to see some businessmen including Chinese citizens and celebrity singers being escorted by contingents of police officers in brazen disregard to the directive of the President.

Based on the revelations by Senator Ningi, the Senate mandated its Committee on Police Affairs to immediately conduct a thorough investigation into the alleged disregard of the President’s directive .

The Committee has 4 weeks to complete the assignment and revert to senate at plenary.

Nobel laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka, has criticised what he described as the excessive deployment of security operatives around the families of people in the governments.

Soyinka, during the 20th Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) Awards in Lagos, recounted his recent encounter with what he termed a “battalion-level” security detail attached to the president’s son (Seyi Tinubu) at a hotel in Ikoyi, the previous day.

Soyinka said that he was overwhelmed by the sheer number of heavily armed personnel he saw attached to the president’s son :

“I was coming out of my hotel, and I saw what looked like a film set.

“A young man detached himself from the actors, came over and greeted me politely. When I asked if they were shooting a film, he said no. I looked around and there was nearly a whole battalion occupying the hotel, ” said Soyinka.

According to him, about 15 heavily armed officers formed the president’s son’s security cordon—an arrangement he found alarming.

“When I got back in my car and asked the driver who the young man was, he told me. And I saw this SWAT team, heavily armed to the teeth. They looked sufficient to take over a neighbouring small country or city like Benin,” he said.

He emphasised that while heads of state often have families, such privilege must never be abused or allowed to distort national security structures.

“Children should know their place. They are not potentates; they are not heads of state.

“The security architecture of a nation suffers when we see such heavy devotion of security to one young individual,” he said.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described the formal defection of Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) as a “self-inflicted injury,” insisting that the governor voluntarily walked into the political trap that led to his exit from the party.

In a statement issued on Tuesday by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Comrade Ini Ememobong, the PDP invoked the Latin legal principle *Volenti non fit injuria* (“to one who is willing, no harm can be done”) to argue that Governor Fubara cannot claim abandonment or lack of support after choosing the path that culminated in his defection.

“Everyone who has followed the developments that culminated in this uneventful defection will recall that the Governor willingly travelled the path that took him to this destination,” the statement read.

“Having done so voluntarily, he cannot turn around and accuse our party, or any other person or group, of abandoning or not protecting him.

”The PDP commended civil society organisations and Nigerians who, it said, “freely stood up in his defence” throughout the protracted political crisis in Rivers State, adding that Governor Fubara “should have nothing less than praise” for those who supported him until he “capitulated.

”The party expressed pity for the governor and prayed he does not develop “Stockholm Syndrome, where a victim falls in love with his captor,” while wishing him well in his new political home.

In a broader critique, the PDP described the Rivers crisis as evidence of the “dysfunctional nature of our democracy,” where powerful individuals wield federal might to suffocate political opponents and force them into submission.

“Democracy is terribly threatened by acts of this kind,” the statement continued, urging all well-meaning Nigerians to condemn what it called the “progressive decline of democratic norms.

”The opposition party further accused the ruling APC of pursuing a “one-party state” agenda and deliberately constricting Nigeria’s political space, warning that the country is sliding toward “electoral authoritarianism.”

“Nigerians and the global community must note that democracy is under severe attack in Nigeria. Everyone must rise together to oppose this ignoble trip toward electoral authoritarianism,” the PDP declared.

Governor Fubara’s defection marks the latest chapter in the long-running political feud between him and his predecessor, Federal Capital Territory Minister Nyesom Wike, who remains a prominent figure in the PDP.