By John Ikani
President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed delight with recent successes recorded by the Nigerian Armed Forces at the theatre of operation in the North-East, where many insurgents are surrendering.
National Security Adviser (NSA), retired Major General Babagana Monguno disclosed this on Thursday, while briefing State House Correspondents at the end of a meeting between the President and Security Chiefs.
Monguno who revealed that all the issues brought before the President centered mainly on the successes recorded in the operations in the North East, added that Buhari warned the security chiefs that he is not prepared to exit office as a failure and he is prepared to make fresh changes if necessary to turn things around in the various theatres of operation in the ongoing war against insurgents.
What the NSA said:
“The meeting briefed Mr. 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 have been recorded. Large numbers of people are surrendering in the north east as a consequence of the relentless efforts of the Armed Forces, intelligence and security agencies. This is very, very evident. We’ve never had such large numbers 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 with the new drive of the Armed Forces, the police and the intelligence agencies, there’s been greater cooperation, greater synergy and 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 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.”
Hunger, Insecurity in North West & and Plateau Killings
Monguno told Journalists that the meeting assessed the biting situation of hunger across the country and the President assured citizens that urgent steps would be taken to ameliorate the situation.
He added that the issue of insecurity in the North-West was also looked at, with a view of securing lives and property.
The NSA further noted that the President has given certain directives to address recent killings in Plateau State, adding that he expressed confidence in the efforts of the Governor of the state.
