By Ahmed Idris
The Minister of Defence, Mr. Mansur Dan-Ali, said on Monday that the security reports the federal government was getting from the North-eastern part of the country were worrisome.
The minister disclosed this while fielding questions from State House correspondents at the end of the Security Council meeting chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari.
“The decision that has been taken is that we have seen that there is a lot of improvement in the security situation in the country more especially in Zamfara and Benue state and in the Niger Delta. In the North East we are having worrisome report, we have looked into it critically and we have taken absolute decision,” he said.
Also speaking, Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Gabriel Olonisakin, said the President has directed security agencies to ensure that the nation is safe and people go about their daily activities in a very safe manner.
He said: “We just had two and half hours meeting with the President and Commander in Chief. We reviewed the security situation across the country in all the geopolitical zones and of course we made all our comments, especially the new operations in Benue, Zamfara, Taraba ‘Operation Whirl Stroke’ and Operation Saradaji.
“We gave the extent of successes in these operations and we are to continue in this line of action in these operations. All the operations were reviewed and all the issues concerning the operations were dealt with. And he directed that we should continue to step up our game to ensure that the nation is safe and people go about their daily activities in a very safe manner,” he said.
The meeting was attended by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. Boss Mustapha; Chief of Staff to the President, Mr. Abba Kyari; and the National Security Adviser, Mr. Babagana Monguno.
Others include Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai; Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok Ekwe Ibas; Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshall Abubakar Sadique; Director-General of National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Mr. Ahmed Rufai Abubakar; Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr. Ibrahim Kpotu Idris; and the Acting Director General of State Security Service (SSS), Mr. Matthew Seiyefa.
Meanwhile, the President has left the Presidential Villa for his home town, Daura, Katsina state for the Eid-el-Kabir celebration.
He is expected back in Abuja on Thursday.
