Again, President Buhari Blasts Service Chiefs over Worrisome Insecurity
President Muhammadu Buhari has once again expressed concerned over the worrisome insecurity in Nigeria when he met with the nation’s security service chiefs.
The President made known his mind during an emergency security meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja
Giving a highlight of the meeting, the National Security Adviser (NSA), Major General Babagana Monguno (Rtd) told journalists that President Buhari was planning a complete re-engineering of the nation’s security apparatus.
He further said that the President told service chiefs, who attended the briefing, that their efforts were not good enough.
During the media chat, Monguno explained President Buhari’s anger about the declining security situation.
Monguno said: “What he said today was virtually a reaffirmation of what he said the first time. Yes Mr President said you are doing your best, as far as I’m concerned, but there’s still a lot more to be done. I’m more concerned about the promise we made to the larger Nigerian society and I am ordering an immediate re-engineering of the entire security apparatus. This is something that I believe will be done in a very short time, but I just want us to keep hope alive.
“I know how everybody feels, I know how Nigerians feel, definitely the President is not oblivious of the fact that securing the nation is a primary responsibility of government and I believe in his sincerity, but again, since he’s not an octopus, since he’s not a spirit, if he delegates to people, then the onus is on them to actually fulfil the legitimate expectations of the larger Nigerian society.”
On the likely next steps that could be taken by the President, General Monguno said: “Mr. President has also directed we must rejig our strategy both in terms of operations and intelligence to further prevent catastrophes.
“We must bear in mind that we owe a duty to the people that elected this government and at the end of the day, without securing the nation all other things such as revamping the economy and fighting corruption cannot be addressed.”
As regards to the security service chiefs, the NSA explained that the Minister of Defence, retired General Bashir Magashi is working out somethings.
He said: “Basically these are operational matters that are best dealt with by the Minister of Defense. I know that there’s something that he’s working on, which has led to this meeting being delayed slightly, this meeting was actually supposed to take place before the Sallah holiday, but I think one or two things have come up that I don’t think I can explain, but I want you to be comfortable that something is being done, following that marching order.”
PRNigeria gathered that present at the meeting were Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, the Chief of Staff to the President, Professor Ibrahim Gambari, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, (SGF), Boss Mustapha, and the National Security Adviser (NSA), Major General Babagana Monguno (retd).
Other included the service chiefs led by the Chief of Defence Staff, General Gabriel Olonisakin, the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai, the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas and the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar.
Others are the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu, Director-General of Department of State Services (DSS), Yusuf Bichi, and the Director-General, National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ahmed Rufa’i.
Cabinet members in attendance are the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, the Minister of Defence, Bashir Magashi, the Minister of Police Affairs, Maigari Dingyadi, and the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Zubairu Dada.
By PRNigeria
