President Muhammadu Buhari, Friday, held a closed door meeting with some northern governors and heads security agencies at the State House, Abuja.
Daily Trust learnt that the meeting held in the Executive Council chambers of the Presidential Villa was convened as part of measures to solve the challenges of insecurity in some parts of the North.
In attendance at the meeting were Chairman of the Northern Governors’ Forum and Governor of Plateau State, Simon Lalong, as well as his counterparts from Kaduna, Nasir El-Rufa’i, Kano, Abdullahi Ganduje, Sokoto, Aminu Tambuwal, Niger, Sani Bello, Jigawa, Abubakar Badaru, Borno, Umara Zulum, Kebbi, Atiku Bagudu and Bello Matawalle of Zamfara.
Daily Trust gathered that both governors of Katsina and Yobe, Bello Masari and Mai Mala Buni, were also expected, but were unavoidably absent.
The meeting was equally attended by the Minister of Defense, Maj. Gen. Bashir Magashi (rtd), the National Security Adviser (NSA), Maj. Gen. Babagana Monguno (rtd); the Chief of Defense Staff, General Lucky Irabor; the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Farouk Yahaya; Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Awwal Gambo; the Chief of Air Staff, Air
Marshal Isiaka Oladayo Amao; 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.
A source in the Presidency, who spoke on 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 thing”, the source said.
