Insecurity: Buhari meets northern governors, security heads

President Muhammadu Buhari has met with some northern governors and heads of the nation’s security network at the Presidential Villa Abuja.

The meeting, which held behind closed-doors in the Executive Council chambers of the Presidential Villa, started at about 3pm yesterday.

Though no details were officially provided on the meeting to the media, it was gathered from sources that it was all about re-solving the security issues bugging some parts of the region.

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 both governors Bello Masari of Katsina and Mai Mala Buni of Yobe, were also expected, but were unavoidably absent.

The Minister of Defense, Maj. Gen. Bashir Magashi (rtd) led the security team, including the National Security Adviser (NSA), Maj. Gen. Babagana Monguno (rtd); the Chief of Defense Staff, General Lucky Irabor; the service chiefs and heads of other security agencies to the meeting. Service Chiefs at the meeting were the 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, are in attendance.

A source in the Presidential Villa, who spoke under anonymity, said 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. (New Telegraph)