Newsonline reports that President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday gave a marching order to service chiefs to intensify their onslaught against insecurity in the country.
President Buhari gave the order when he met with security chiefs at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, where they reviewed the current security challenges still bedeviling the country, especially in Zamfara State, where bandits were holding sway.
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Minister of Defence, Maj. Gen. Bashir Magashi, who spoke to State House correspondents after the meeting, confirmed that Buhari was still worried about the security situation in the North.
According to Magashi, the presidency acknowledged the efforts of the security chiefs, but appears concerned that attacks are becoming more persistent.
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Magashi also confirmed that the six Super Tucano aircraft taken delivery by the government are still undergoing testing, even as the remaining six will come in soonest.
“This meeting was called in order to keep the C-in-C abreast on the current happening in the North-West and North-Central, in respect of the improvements, problems and any other thing associated with the insurgency, banditry, kidnapping and the rest of it.
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“From the meeting, we believe that the spate at which these things are happening in Zamfara State and North-Central is a source of concern to the government and to all agencies that are responsible for the execution of the operations in the North-Central.
“We discussed the need for urgency in our dealing with the bandits. We believe they’re becoming a nuisance; killing people, they are doing what they like, they make careless statements, they say what they think they should say in order to solicit the kind of audience they want from the society.
“We believe that we have gone a long way in keeping this country together. If one looks back, prior to our coming, 2014, you’ll find that there’s a lot of improvement, but people are not seeing it anymore. They believe probably we are incapable or there is something which we don’t know, but we are trying to find out why people are not appreciating the efforts of government.
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“We have appraised our position, we’ve found that we are capable, we can do this thing, but we need the cooperation of every Nigerian in order to ensure a free society. Security, as far as this country is concerned, is the paramount important thing in this country, without security, nothing will happen and the commander-in-chief has emphasised this today that without security, nothing can go.
“So, he has directed us to find ways, tactics and style with which we can get out of this and we assured him that we’ll do our best to ensure the mission is successful and we’ll do all we can to ensure the completion of this mission, especially when equipment and other things are available to support the course of our tactical manoeuvres and that we’ll do very well from now”, he said.
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On the new Super Tucano jets, he said, “We are just testing them, six are still coming by the end of… maybe next week. So, when the twelve of them are here, I think the Chief of Air Staff will brief you on the operations that they are to undertake as soon as possible”.
The Inspector General of Police, Usman Baba, who also participated in the meeting, corroborated Magashi but kept their latest tactics to tackle insurgency to his chest.
He said, “Yes, we had a brief security meeting, service chiefs and the intelligence chiefs have been able to brief the president on the security situation of the country. The president has also observed and made a … remark that the constitutional responsibility of government is the provision of security, is one and is foremost and he is ready to provide such.
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“We should reinvigorate our efforts, which are yielding results in the North-East, South-East, but there is more to be done in the North-Central, North-West, where people are worried and he has intelligence and information that schoolchildren and students are abducted, selective abductions and killings are done. This narrative must change.
“We have assured him and promised him that we’ll make efforts to do more. He also thanked and praised us for what has been done so far, that we should improve much so that people can go about their lawful businesses within the quickest possible means”.
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Asked if the president gave a new marching order, Baba responded saying, “The new marching order is that all the service chiefs and intelligence chiefs have been warned to go and reinvigorate efforts and to do more so that the North-Central and Nigeria at large should enjoy better security”.
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