A former Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba, has expressed confidence that President Bola Tinubu’s directive ordering the withdrawal of police personnel from private individuals and undeserving VIPs will succeed where previous efforts failed.

Speaking in Abuja on Saturday at the launch of his biographies, “Giant Footprints” and “A Policeman Personified”, the former police boss said earlier attempts to implement similar measures collapsed because they were issued by police chiefs rather than by the President.

Baba commended President Tinubu for demonstrating what he described as the necessary “political will” to restore the primacy of the police in Nigeria’s internal security system.

“I am profoundly grateful to the President… for his consistent action directed at restoring the dwindling police primacy in the internal security architecture,” he said.

He noted that the latest directive marks the first time a sitting President has personally issued such an order, adding, “We have tried to do it as IGPs, but we couldn’t make it. Let’s see how this one will work.”

The former IGP said he documented his policing journey in the new biographies to enrich national security discourse, inspire younger officers, and provide useful perspectives for policymakers and law enforcement professionals.