The Nation Newspaper

Tag: VIPs

  • Bauchi: Police bar VIPs from going to polling booths with security details

    No political appointee will be allowed near any polling booth in Bauchi State today with his security details, Police Commissioner Ali Janja said yesterday.

    ”Important personalities and politicians have been barred from going to any polling unit with their security details. They are also warned to desist from moving from one place to another on the Election day, as provided under the Electoral Act,” Janja told reporters in Bauchi,the state capital.

    Read also: REC declares ballot papers for Niger East, North missing

    The measure will also apply during the March 2  governorship/State House of Assembly elections,he said.

    He added:”There will be total restriction of movement of persons and vehicles between the midnight hour of Friday 15th February 2019 to 5:00 pm on Saturday.”

    He warned undesirable elements to keep off polling booths and vowed that offenders would be arrested and prosecuted.

  • IG orders withdrawal of orderlies from VIPs

    INSPECTOR General (IG) Ibrahim Idris has ordered the withdrawal of police personnel attached to politicians, multi-national firms, business entrepreneurs and corporate individuals.

    Idris, who spoke yesterday in Abuja at the Force Headquarters during the monthly meeting with Commissioners of Police and other senior officers, said that a memo on the issue would be forwarded to President Muhammadu Buhari for his approval.

    He added that the memo is expected to serve as a guideline for deployment of policemen to very important personalities (VIPs), political, public office holders and others

    He explained that the move was imperative because of the country’s security challenges.

    The IG also directed that following alleged abuse of Police Spy number plates, holders of such numbers should return them and re-apply.

    He said: “In view of the current security challenges in the country, it has become expedient for the NPF to streamline the deployment of its personnel attached to political and public office holders, aimed at enhancing effective and efficient policing of the country.

    “To this effect, a memo will be forwarded to the President for approval which will serve as a guideline or template for deployment to VIPs, political and public office holders in the country.

    “Accordingly, a directive for withdrawal of all police officers deployed to VIPs, political and public office holders, with immediate effect, is hereby given.

    “This directive includes business entrepreneurs, multi-national companies as well as corporate individuals.”

    He said: “However, business entrepreneurs, multi-national organisations, corporate individuals and entities that require such services and are found to be worthy will be considered from the Special Protection Unit (SPU) of the NPF on application for re-validation through the Commissioners of Police where they are residents.”

    The IG added that a Task Force has been constituted at the FHQ under the Command of ACP Moh’d Adamu Dankwara to ensure compliance to this directive.

    He directed the Commissioners of Police to replicate same at their various commands.

    Idris said: “The Commissioners of Police are to profile and recommend if such applicants merit the services for approval.

    “By so doing, I am charging the Commissioners of Police with the responsibility of supervising such official deployment and thereby holding them accountable.”

    On the abuse of Spy number plates, the police boss said it was grossly abused, adding that criminals have taken advantage of it to perpetrate crimes.

    He said: “I have observed the excessive abuse of Spy Number Plates, covering of plate numbers and Illegal use of siren.

    “The Police Spy Numbers exclusively approved for use by banks, security companies and multi-national companies are grossly abused, a situation where criminals now take advantage of this to perpetrate heinous crimes.

    “Some individuals have formed the habit of covering their vehicle plate numbers and also illegally use siren. This practice should stop forthwith.”

    “I have directed that holders of all police Spy plate numbers are to return them to the Force Transport Officer at the FHQ, where they are expected to apply for re-validation.”

    He said Dankwara will ensure compliance to the directive and arrest violators.

    “A similar task force is to be formed at the command levels by State Commissioners of Police to ensure compliance with this directives and list of the Task Force Team be forwarded to the DIG Operations latest March 31, 2018,” he said.

  • 150, 000 policemen attached to VIPs, unauthorised persons

    The Police Service Commission (PSC) says more than 150,000 policemen were attached to VIPs and unauthourised persons.

    The police have about 375,000 men and women in service.

    The commission’s chairman, Mr. Mike Okiro, stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday in Abuja.

    President Muhammadu Buhari, in 2015, directed that police personnel attached to unauthorised persons and VIPs be withdrawn and deployed to confront security challenges.

    “We cannot afford to have more than half of the population of the Police in private hands,” he said.

    He said the commission, in conjunction with the Police, had commenced the implementation of the withdrawal of policemen but the exercise was stalled due to lack of fund.

    “We could not sustain the enforcement of the order on the withdrawal of policemen attached to unqualified persons in the country because of lack of fund.

    He expressed disappointment at the practice, where persons who served as ministers for over 10 to 15 years still go about with police security.

    Okiro said the nation cannot be battling with shortage of manpower in the force while majority of these officers would be in the service of few privileged Nigerians.

    He explained that issue of paucity of fund had been one of the problems hindering the recruitment of more policemen for enhanced service delivery.

    The commission chairman said the Police Trust Fund bill before the National Assembly, if passed into law, would go a long way to address the issue of funding for the police.

  • Our kidnappers mistook us for VIPs – Pastor

    Our kidnappers mistook us for VIPs – Pastor

    The Christ Embassy group Pastor, Lawrence Ehimare, and 11 other passengers abducted along Bayelsa State waterways, Tuesday, regained their freedom.

    Ehimare was among the occupants of two speedboats which were hijacked on Monday along Brass-Yenagoa waterways by gunmen suspected to be kidnappers and sea robbers.

    Narrating his ordeal, the pastor said the 14 hours they spent with the kidnappers was a nasty period.

    He said their boats were hijacked at about 9am and taken to the hoodlums’ camp in the creeks.

    He said they were blindfolded by the gunmen who took their time to dispossess them of their valuables including mobile phones and cash.

    He said the abductors initially mistook them for very important personalities they could hold hostage and later ask for ransom.

    He said the gunmen were mad after discovering that the occupants of the boats were civil servants.

    He said: “Initially they thought we were important person they will hold down and demand ransom. So, what they did was look into our faces and ask, honourable, who are you? Are you not an honourable?

    “And when they got to me I told them I am a pastor. When they discovered that most of the passengers were normal civil servants and pastor we were released and dumped near a fishing point at around 11pm.

    “It was from there that we were eventually rescued through a fishing canoe to Okoroma town, where we slept till this morning.

    “It was not a pleasant experience but I thank God for his divine mercies and for rescuing all of us alive. It was horrifying but I want to give God all the glory.”

     

  • Banks, telecoms, others face cyber attacks

    Banks, telecoms, others face cyber attacks

    Financial outfits, telecoms firms and public institutions are going to come under attacks this year if proactive measures are not taken, an expert has warned.

    Managing Director, New Horizons Nigeria, Tim Akano, who gave the warning in Lagos over the weekend, said there would be attacks from malware, ransomware, advanced persistent threats, spear phishing, social network attacks, cyber attacks on banks and telecoms, and cloud backlash as a result of focus on cloud computing.

    According to him, attacks from malware will be unleashed by criminals through sending messages to people’s personal computers (PCs) and laptops to steal information, warning that now that mobility has become ubiquitous, there will be an upsurge in mobile malware this year. “Smart phones and tablet vulnerabilities will be exploited by hackers to steal information and data for commercial gains and blackmail,” he added.

    On ransomware, Akano said hackers will continue to hijack people’s mobile phone, tablet and PC this year, holding them to ransom. According to him, when the ransom pops up while browsing on the internet disguised as a genuine message from the law enforcement agents clamming that the computer user is into something unethical and illegal on the net. The device will then be locked automatically and a message requesting the owner to pay certain sum of cash into a code to get the device unlocked will be sent. At this level malware that spread virus that monitors every app would have been installed on the phone or tablet would have been successfully installed.

    Another security threat that will be unleashed this year is spear phishing. Under this, a user receives an email with a link to download an attachment and the user activates and click, the download. From that moment, the user device has been compromised.

    He also said hackers will use the advanced persistent threats to make life uneasy for people. Akano said: “This is a targeted and persistent attack of an organisation or a country by hackers. In 2013 major banks in the United States suffered from this as a massive denial of service were unleashed on their network. This will increase this year.”

    Hackers will also hide under the boom in social media to attack innocent people, he warned. According to him, now that close to two billion people are using both Facebook and Twitter, the platforms have become grounds for hackers to feed fat. He warned that more very important personalities (VIPs) will suffer attack on their Facebook and Twitter accounts this year. Hackers will continue to create fake Facebook accounts (phishing) of important personalities to dupe unsuspecting people.

    “Banks are the most vulnerable. Hackers follow the movement of cash. So, this year, banks should expect more attacks both from in-house disgruntled employees and outside cyber thieves,” he warned adding that there will also be cloud backlash and cloud-hacking will become a common place in 2014. “Since most information are now stored on third party devices, hackers will continue to have a field day in getting into the cloud to steal information to be sold in the black market,” he added.