Veteran journalist and publisher, Chief Dele Momodu, has come down hard on President Bola Tinubu over the directive withdrawing police escorts from Very Important Personalities.
He alleged that the policy is a calculated political weapon aimed at crippling opposition stalwarts and stoking public anger against successful Nigerians.
Momodu, a former presidential aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party, unleashed the scathing criticism in a commentary titled Why Are Nigerians So Easily Fooled?, where he accused the administration of flying a kite with a purported list of affected VIPs to test the waters of public opinion.
The list, which made the rounds on social media and featured names such as former First Lady Aisha Buhari, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory Nyesom Wike, and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, was subsequently disowned as fake.
But Momodu insisted the damage had been done, describing the exercise as a premeditated strike against Atiku, who enjoys constitutional protection as a former vice president.
“I instantly smelled a rat,” Momodu wrote, arguing that the inclusion of certain names was intended to provoke public outrage. “They deliberately included most unlikely names… It became clear to me that Atiku was one of their main targets.”
The list was later disowned as fake, a development Momodu said he had “predicted correctly within 24 hours.”
He accused the Tinubu government of playing on public sentiments to demonise wealthy and politically exposed persons who engage police protection within the bounds of the law, describing the strategy as both reckless and unprecedented.
According to him, “Tinubu is willing and ready to set fire to an entire village in order to catch a few rodents. His motives are not pure.”
Momodu contended that if the President were sincere about reforming VIP security arrangements, he would seize the moment to beef up police recruitment with funding from the private sector beneficiaries willing to pay for protection.
“No nation can afford to voluntarily expose its private and productive sectors to bandits and kidnappers,” he said. “It is preposterously myopic and visionless.”
The Ovation International boss warned that the so-called withdrawal could leave opposition figures exposed to danger while government sympathisers continue to enjoy protection quietly through unofficial channels.
He claimed the manoeuvre was part of a grand scheme to defang the President’s most formidable opponents ahead of future political contests.
“Their next move is to ensure that the Atikus who can provide robust opposition… must be denied of security,” Momodu claimed.
In a sombre conclusion, the media mogul issued a grim forecast about the country’s trajectory under the current administration.
He concluded with a stark warning about the country’s direction:
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