Ex-police chiefs disagree over Buhari’s security following incident at Eid praying ground

 Retired Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Adebayo Adeoye, has called for the immediate restoration of the Department of State Services personnel to the Presidential Villa to provide close protection for President Buhari.

The former DIG says the use of soldiers as presidential guards could expose Buhari to danger and jeopardize his life.

Last week Friday, the president recounted his experience at the Eid praying ground where he was almost mobbed by youths who were excited to see him. He said the security around him was so lose that anyone with bad intentions could have harmed him but he managed to escape from the crowd.

The people guarding the president were soldiers. Adeoye stated that the incident at the Eid praying ground showed that the soldiers guarding the President did not have the right experience and skills, and that day, they exposed him to danger by their lack of crowd control skills, adding that the DSS operatives would have protected Buhari better.

"DSS operatives should be called back 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 operatives should be allowed to protect the President; soldiers are not trained on crowd control or close protection.”

But a former FCT Commissioner of Police, Lawrence Alobi, said 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.