A former Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in Oyo State, Mutalubi Adebayo, SAN, has stated that judges need police escorts to perform their duties, but senators do not require such protection, describing the Senate as “an old people’s home” where lawmakers are “cracking jokes.”
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Adebayo made the statement on Sunday during an interview on Arise TV’s This Day Live, monitored by our correspondent, while discussing President Bola Tinubu’s directive to withdraw police officers attached to Very Important Persons (VIPs) and return them to core policing duties.
The senior advocate was responding to complaints by the Chief Judge of Taraba State, Justice Joel Agya, who had reported during the week that police escorts had been withdrawn from judges in the state, and a subsequent clarification by the spokesperson to the Chief Justice of Nigeria that judges were exempted from the presidential directive.
Adebayo strongly disagreed with Senator Abdul Ningi, who had argued on the floor of the Senate that if police escorts must be withdrawn, it should apply to everyone, including the President, Vice President, and governors, while complaining that ministers still use police escorts.
“I quite agree. Judges are not VIP. They are even a special class of people. They are more than VIP. They need police escort as a matter of duty, as a matter of course. It is very compulsory that judges consider the nature of the job they do. We must not expose them to being attacked. They treat several criminal matters and other sensitive matters so that it won’t be good even for the society for judges to be exposed without having their police details,” Adebayo said.
He added: “So, to me, Senator Abdul Ningi is taking the matter too far. And I will say that he’s a clown, or maybe he’s joking. Because what are they doing, the Senate, that they wouldn’t need escort? What are they doing?”
The senior advocate went further to describe the Senate as an “old people’s home,” stating: “In fact, it has even been moved. They are making laws. No, in some other countries, it’s been done on part-time basis. What are they doing there? Cracking jokes. And I call the Senate an old people’s home. When you retire, you just go there while you are retired and be making cheap money. They don’t need it. They don’t need it, honestly.”
Adebayo suggested that if senators feel they need security, they should apply for private guards from private security companies rather than use police officers.
“If they need it, they apply for private guards from private security companies. Do they want to compare their jobs, what they do, to that of judges? Some classes of public servants still need it, like judges. Even ministers need it. Senator Ningi cannot compare himself to the ministers,” he said.
The SAN emphasized that certain categories of public servants, including ministers, genuinely need police escorts but criticized the practice of moving around with retinues of security details.
“What I don’t like is that they should not be going around with retinues of security details. They should be limited and they should be restricted. Not that they will go with convoys as if the president himself is going elsewhere. But they need it,” he stated.
When asked about police escorts for the President, Vice President, and their families, Adebayo drew a clear line.
“Let the son or the children of the president also apply for private girls (guards). Not policemen. They don’t need it,” he said.
Sharing his personal experience, Adebayo disclosed that he served as Attorney General of Oyo State for four years without ever using police escorts, despite his office applying for security details.
“I served as Attorney General of Oyo State throughout my four years. I never had a police escort. I never applied for it. And my office applied for security details for other ministers and political appointees. But I didn’t use them. Because I even consider it a great risk. When you enter a place now, you might go in unnoticed. But when people see you with the police, they will ask, ‘Who is that man?’ And you become exposed,” he explained.
The senior advocate suggested that most VIPs who insist on moving around with police escorts do so because they have something to hide.
“It is not compulsory to do it. The guilty are always afraid. Those who are going about with them, they know the reason why they are doing that. Maybe most of them might have fallen in some cities and they are afraid of their own shadow,” he said.
President Tinubu had recently reaffirmed his directive to the police authorities to withdraw police officers attached to VIPs and return them to core policing duties, expressing frustration with the slow pace of compliance.
“I honestly believe in what I said. It should be effected. If you have any problem because of the nature of your assignment, contact the IGP and get my clearance,” Tinubu said.
The President directed the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, to liaise with the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps to immediately replace withdrawn escorts with personnel from these agencies “so you don’t have people exposed.”
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