President Muhammadu Buhari has met with some northern Governors and handlers of the nation’s security network at the Presidential Villa Abuja.
The meeting, which held behind closed-door in the Executive Council chambers of the Presidential Villa, started around 3pm.
Although no details were officially provided on the meeting, sources said that it was all about solving the security issues bugging some parts of the region.
Among Governors at the meeting were: Simon Lalong (Plateau); Nasir El-Rufa’i (Kaduna); Abdullahi Ganduje (Kano); Aminu Tambuwal (Sokoto); Sani Bello (Niger); Abubakar Badaru (Jigawa); Umara Zulum (Borno); Atiku Bagudu (Kebbi) and Bello Matawalle (Zamfara).
It was gathered that Governors Bello Masari (Katsina) and Mai Mala Buni (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.
The service chiefs in attendance 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 to 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 thin,” the source said.