President Muhammadu Buhari
President Muhammadu Buhari ended his meeting with security chiefs in Abuja with a warning that he wouldn’t want to leave office a failure.
Consequently, the President threatened to rejig the security architecture if it became necessary in order to achieve the desired result and have a secured environment.
The President gave the warning on a day his Information and Culture Minister, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said in Washington that Nigeria cannot be called a failed state because insecurity was only prevalent “in one corner of the country”.
He also said Nigeria would not go the way of Afghanistan where a terrorist group had taken the reins of power.
But the minister’s claim that insecurity was only limited to one corner of the country drew the ire of regional groups in the country, including the Pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afeniere, the Middle Belt Forum, MBF, Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, among others, who noted that insecurity was endemic in Nigeria.
Echoing President Buhari’s threat to security chiefs at the end of the National Council on Security meeting, presided over by the President at the First Lady’s Conference Room, Presidential Villa, Abuja, National Security Adviser, NSA, Major-General Babagana Monguno, retd. said the President has expressed his readiness to make more changes in the security architecture of the country, if necessary.
He revealed that all the issues brought before the President centred mainly on the successes recorded in the operations in the north east.
Monguno said large numbers of members of the Boko Haram Islamic sect are surrendering in the North-East, noting that “never had such large number left the terrorist camps, owing to the relentless activity of the security agencies.”
The NSA said there is good cooperation, synergy and intelligence-sharing among the armed forces, adding that the President is happy with the briefs he received.
He said: “The last National Security Council meeting we had was on June 18. From that time till now, a lot has happened within the security domain. The President called for this meeting. And it was actually supposed to be for next week, but he drew it back for today (yesterday), for obvious reasons.
“The meeting briefed the President, on the current security situation in the country. Well, I’ll say from the last time we met till now, and all the issues that were brought before the president, were mainly issues arising from the successes recorded in the theatre of operations throughout the North East.
“It is evident that a lot of successes had been recorded. Large number of people are surrendering in the north east as a consequence of the relentless efforts of the Armed Forces, intelligence and security agencies.
We’ve never had such large number of people defecting from the other side back to the Nigerian side, mainly, as a result of many issues within the theatre, issues of infighting among the various factions of the terrorist groups.
“But the new drive of the Armed Forces, the police, the intelligence agencies has been responsible for this. There’s been greatest cooperation, greater synergy, intelligence sharing, as well as our partners in the regional intelligence fusion unit.
“So the President was briefed, the President is quite happy that there’s been tremendous success, especially with the advent of the new service chiefs and Inspector General of Police. And he’s also made it very, very clear that he’s not ready to exit government as a failure.
“He is not going to tolerate failure and that he’s made changes and is ready to make further changes if he is not satisfied. He is completely determined to ensure that there’s a turnaround in the fortunes in the theatre of operations.
‘We’re working on hunger, Plateau killings and we also addressed the issue of the prevailing situation, which is widespread, you know, issues of hunger. The President is not oblivious of the pains of the people, and is working with the Vice-President and other members of council. He is going to implore the relevant ministries, departments and agencies. MDAs, of government to address this issue.
“As far as this is concerned, it’s also an emergency situation that people should not be left to wallow in hunger, and in despair. This is something he is also going to look into. And he is going to use all the necessary, all the relevant tools at his disposal to address the issue of widespread hunger.
“Then also, the issue of insecurity in the northwest, which is still prevalent, even though for those of us who are within the security system, we have seen a significant drop in the number of incidents of kidnapping and banditry. Nevertheless, a lot has to be done.
“This is because, like I’ve always said in the past, as far as the people are concerned, there shouldn’t be any incident of kidnapping, banditry, and other incidents of insecurity.
“So the President is also aware of that and he has also made certain assertions which I am not willing to say right now, till he’s made the final decision on those things. But generally, the atmosphere is improving, especially in the North-Eastern part of the country. The President is very happy with the drive in that part of the country.
“We also addressed the issue in Plateau, the recent killings, and the President has given certain directives to address that; he has also expressed confidence in the efforts of the governor of Plateau State.”
Asked if there are plans for surrendering insurgents, the NSA said: “Yes, there are plans. But I don’t want to immediately divulge what has been decided on those plans till the President takes a firm decision on the plans.
“But definitely, that is one of the things he intends to address, the number of people coming. And it’s not just in Nigeria, even in northern Cameroon, you have equally large numbers of people surrendering to the bona fide agencies of government. But that is all as a consequence of the regional cooperation among the various countries and the agencies of those countries.”
On what to expect going forward from the national security architecture, Monguno said: “Well, what I expect is for the Nigerian people also to forge a sense of oneness, unity, let’s put aside whatever suspicions, apprehensions or agitations that exist because in the context of the 21st century, you can’t deal with these emerging crisis in a cut and dried manner.
“We have to use everything at our disposal, all the elements of national power, including the population. The wider community needs to work with the security agencies to deal with these problems.
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