Acting President Professor Yemi Osinbajo said on Wednesday that there was no point raising concerns on the security briefings he got from the Minister of Defence and heads of security agencies in the country.
Fielding questions from State House correspondents after the security meeting, Osinbajo said the briefing was a demonstration of the present administration’s commitment to end the security challenges facing the country
The Acting President said he would brief President Muhammadu Buhari on what transpired at the meeting during a telephone conversation.
Asked if receiving security briefing was not an indication that the President would not return to the country anytime soon, Osinbajo said: “No, no, no! Almost every month, these briefings are held. It is routine and it is the President who puts in place this whole idea of a regular briefing. It is even more important that we do so because of some of the issues arising like the cases of kidnappings and I wanted the IG to inform us fully.
“Besides, the President is a process person and certainly I am going to speak with him on developments here. So it is not an indication of anything. It is only an indication that we are committed to the security of the nation.
“The primary duty of government is to ensure lives and properties and that is why we have to be regularly briefed. The good thing is that our men are going extraordinarily well in the North East and that Southern Kaduna has also been contained. The peace building process is also going on very well.”
On when the Boko Haram attacks would end based on the briefings received, Osinbajo said: “As you know the Boko Haram as a military force has been degraded, they are not holding territory at the moment, our armed forces have been able to dislodge them from practically all territories they were holding in the past.
“What is happening now is just once in a while attacks by suicide bombers. By the nature of asymmetric warfare we are not able to say it has ended now but I think that militarily they have been contained, there is no question at all that Boko Haram as a fighting force has been degraded.
“We are are still vigilant because of their capacity to do damage with suicide bombers. I am very satisfied with what the military has done so far. And the briefing has shown graphically that they are really on top of their game and that they are doing excellently well in the North East.”
Also speaking, Minister of Defence, Mr. Mansur Dan-Ali, said the meeting was able to thrash out most of the security issues in the country including the Southern Kaduna crisis, Boko Haram insurgency in the North East and the security challenges in other parts of the country.
The minister assured that “Nigeria is very safe and I believe with the concept of the security agencies, all the security challenges have been surmounted.”
Yesterday’s meeting was attended by National Security Adviser, Mr. Babagana Monguno; the Chief of Defence Staff, General Gabriel Olonisakin; Chief of Army Staff, Lieutent General Tukur Buratai; Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Abubakar Sadiq; Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibas Ibok; Director-General of State Security Service, Mr. Lawal Daura; and the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Ibrahim Idris.
