Senator Ndume seeks FG withdrawal of politicians, lawmakers’ orderlies

Senate Chief Whip, Ali Ndume, has asked the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to withdraw orderlies attached to politicians and members of the National Assembly. He shared this view in an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Wednesday, 13 March. Ndume said  “I support that they should take away all their police. One Senator will be going around with 10 policemen, seven, members of the House of Reps, everybody. That is for those who are mobile. Some even give security to their wives; others give security to their children. I am against that.” According to Ndume, Nigeria, with about 300,000 policemen, does not have enough to police the country, hence, orderlies of VIPs should be withdrawn to protect the people. “Let’s have like 2 million police, 500K soldiers,” he said. He urged President Bola Tinubu to give security agencies a blank cheque and give them all they want in terms of funding and weapons to fight the menace of banditry, kidnapping, and insurgency. Ndume said the President should empower the police to increase their manpower to two million men and the military to 500,000. The Senator from Borno South Senatorial District, however, said he won’t vote for state police if it comes up in the constitution amendment process, adding that it would be abused by governors.