Insecurity: President Meets with Security Chiefs, Northern Governors

Deji Elumoye in Abuja

Apparently piqued by raging insecurity across the country, President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday presided over an enlarged meeting of the National Security Council (NSC) attended by no fewer than nine Northern state governors.

The meeting, which was held behind closed-door in the Executive Council Chambers of the State House, Abuja, commenced at about 3pm and lasted till 5.45pm.

Although details of the ‘crucial’ meeting was not made public, sources, however, told THISDAY that the meeting was convened by the President with a view to proffering solutions to security matters affecting some states, especially the Northern states whose governors were in attendance.

A presidential source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, also stressed that the meeting was in connection with the security situation in the states whose governors were in attendance.

“It was all about finding a sustainable solution to the security situation in those Northern states. If you observed, the problems facing all the states represented are almost uniform; banditry and terrorism. So it’s something like a central situation room thing,” the source said.

Minister of Defence, Major General Bashir Magashi (rtd), led the security team, including the National Security Adviser (NSA), Major General Babagana Monguno (rtd); the Chief of Defense Staff, General Lucky Irabor, to the meeting.

Other security chiefs that attended the meeting included Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Farouk Yahaya; Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Awwal Gambo; and the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Isiaka Oladayo Amao.
Also in attendance were the Inspector-General of Police, Alkali Baba Usman; the Director-General of the Department of State Service (DSS), Yusuf Bichi; and the Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ahmed Rufai Abubakar.

The Northern governors at the meeting were Simon Lalong of Plateau; Nasir El-Rufa’i of Kaduna; Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano; Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto; Sani Bello of Niger; Abubakar Badaru of Jigawa; Babagana Zulum of Borno; Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi; and Bello Matawalle of Zamfara.

It was gathered that the governor of Katsina State, Bello Masari and that of Yobe State, Mai Mala Buni, were also expected, but were unavoidably absent.