Bashir Abubakar, the chief security officer to the president, is seriously concerned about the spate of “high-profile terrorist attacks” all over the world, and has made a move to forestall any such attack on the presidential villa.
In an internal memo dated January 26, 2016, Abubakar particularly urged drivers and occupants of vehicles belonging to VIPs to submit themselves for thorough checking at the entry points to the villa.
He said that the practice where drivers of cars with tinted glasses refuse to wind down at security checkpoints would no longer be tolerated.
“It has been observed that some staff of the Presidential Villa driving tinted cars, especially security personnel, are in the habit of refusing to wind down their windscreen for security checks before driving into the villa,” he said in the memo, titled ‘Use of tinted cars around the Presidential Villa, Abuja’.
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“It is most worrisome that some of them used the excuse of either driving official cars or driving VIPs to justify their acts. This act which, is not in tandem with standard security drill and procedure, poses serious threat to the safety and security of the Villa.
“It is important to note that the insistence of security operatives at the pilot gates to properly screen vehicles coming into the villa whether tinted or not tinted, official or unofficial, is not out of place.
“Therefore, there is need for all to subject themselves and their vehicles to security checks as the case may be, so as to prevent unscrupulous elements from exploring the situation to launch attacks on the Villa, more so that most of the major attacks by terrorist groups on high-profile targets around the world are being carried out using hijacked vehicles or vehicles with tinted glasses.
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“Heads of units/departments are to advise personnel working under them to always subject themselves to proper security checks and not take the duties of security personnel for granted.”
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