A police commander (names withheld) and the guards under him are currently on collision course over the disbursement of some allowances paid them by some Very Important Personalities they protect.
Our correspondent learnt that as a result of the situation, a silent war now brews between the police commander and guards under his care, but are directly attached to the VIP Protection Units.
The development, it was gathered, if not swiftly contained, may soon result in an open confrontation between the aggrieved guards and their commander, who they have accused of being, “Too greedy and hostile in handling their allowance.”
A reliable source told our correspondent that almost a year ago, the over 1000 “specially trained guards” were attached to some VIPs, following a formal request to that effect. The VIPs are said to have been paying some amount of money as monthly allowance to each of the guards through their commander, who has been applying his discretion in disbursing the largesse.
A source informed our correspondent that the “token” was, in actual fact, big enough to sustain the police guards, but that their commander had formed the habit of taking over 75 percent of the to tal sum for himself on a monthly basis, because his men did not know the actual amount they were entitled to.
However, the matter was said to have taken a dramatic turn, when about six weeks ago, the guards got to know about the actual amount being paid to them as allowance by one of the VIPs.
The matter was said to have surprised the guards, who then decided to spring a surprise on their commander, too.
The guards were said to have resolved and sent a secret text message to the VIP said to be an oil magnate and detailing how they had been suffering in silence at the hands of their commander.
Following this development, the VIP was said to have directed each of the guards to submit his bank account details to him to enable him to begin to pay directly to them.
However, one of the police guards was said to have disclosed the plot to their commander, who became angry and began moves to withdraw all the guards attached to the VIP.
The VIP was said to have rebuffed the move by the commander to withdraw the guards and even threatened to report the matter to the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris.
Meanwhile, the guards are now said to be in a dilemma over their fate as the VIP and their commander no longer see eye to eye.
