President Muhammadu Buhari Tuesday directed security agencies to deal decisively with anybody perpetrating violence or causing mayhem in any part of the country.
National Security Adviser, Mr Babagana Monguno, said this while briefing State House correspondents at the end of a National Security Council meeting held at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
He said the President would not relent in is duty of ensuring that every Nigerian is protected.
“What I am saying has to do with the orders given by the President, Commander-in-Chief to the Chief of Defence Staff, including the Service Chiefs, including the Inspector General of Police. I do not think I will want to go into details of the new measures.
“We have decided not to go along the path that we followed in the past whereby, certain operation and tactical decisions were made public; of course, we are in a situation whereby, we are fighting enemies that are not really known.
“The important thing is that the President has given us marching orders to deal physically with the emerging problems and of course, dealing with it form the realists paradigm, President Buhari ‘s approach to dealing with this problem basically is that he recognises that his primary responsibility is ensuring national survival in a hostile environment.
“Whether that hostility is domestic or external, it has to be suppressed and therefore, he has given a clear line of action to the operational elements under the leadership of the Chief of defence Staff,” he said.
The NSA said dealing with the current security challenges remains a priority in order to return and sustain peace in all troubled parts of the country.
“The most important thing is that we have to subjugate all other requirements in order to deal with the present crisis of insecurity in the country. All other national objectives and obligations have to be subordinated to the primary concern of bringing back security and normalcy to the Federal republic of Nigeria and allowing the entire citizenry to undertake their legitimate obligations without any fear of being intimidated or coerced by non-state actors,” he said.
Also speaking, Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor. pledged more commitment and professionalism form the Armed Forces as they tackle security challenge ms in the country.
He said peace would surely return to the troubled areas of the country.
Also speaking, the Acting Inspector General of Police, Mr Usman Baba, assured Nigerians that the current security challenges would be surmounted.
“The Security Council meeting has assessed the security situation in the country, particularly South-East and South-South, as it affects law and order and we have measures that have been approved and we will see how we can change the narrative within the quickest possible meands to restore peace in those areas,” he said.
