President Muhammadu Buhari is holding a National security council meeting with his security advisers and the service chiefs at the State House, Abuja.
The meeting which is coming a day after some lawmakers called for his resignation for the worsening national security, had in attendance are the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha; Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari; Minister of Defense Maj. Gen. Bashir Salihi Mahashi (Rtd.); Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola; and the National Security Adviser (NSA) Maj. Gen. Babagana Monguno (Rtd.).
Service chiefs in attendance include the Chief of Defense Staff, General Gabriel Olonisakin; Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai; Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok Ekwe Ibas; Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshall Sadique Abubakar; Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu; Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ahmed Rafa’i Abubakar; and the Director-General of the Directorate of State Services (DSS) Yusuf Magaji Bichi.
The agenda of the meeting that took off at around 10am was not disclosed, but sources informed that the issue for discussion may not be more than the worsening security situation across the country.
President Buhari who had expressed frustration at the situation of National security had taken in the last few years, pointed out that what is happening now is far beyond just insurgency, which was the case in 2015 when he took office, but an evil plot against the peace of the country.
“I was taken aback by what is happening in the North West and other parts of the country. During our campaigns, we knew about the Boko Haram. What is coming now is surprising. It is not ethnicity or religion, rather it is one evil plan against the country.
“We have to be harder on them. One of the responsibilities of government is to provide security. If we don’t secure the country, we will not be able to manage the economy properly,’’ he said.
The National security meeting is also coming a day after Senate Minority Leader, and member fo the opposition party, Senator Abaribe called for the resignation of President Buhari over the alarming rate of insecurity in the country.
Senator Abaribe said this on Wednesday at a plenary where Senators were debating the worsening security situation in the country and proffer a way forward.
He had asked President Muhammadu Buhari and the ruling All Progressives Congress(APC) to resign over their inability to safeguard the lives and property of Nigerians since 2015.
Senator Abaribe had insisted that Buhari and the APC had told Nigerians to stone them if they fail and that “it is now time to pick stones to stone them” in view of their obvious failure.
Senate President Ahmad Lawan cut Abaribe short.
He called on Abaribe and all those who are going to make contributions to the debate to be apolitical.
He said that bandits and Boko Haram insurgents do not operate on partisan grounds when they kill citizens.
In his contribution, Senator Abudullahi Adamu, faulted the Senate President for not calling on Abaribe to withdraw his comments.
The Presidency through the spokesperson to President Muhammadu Buhari, and Senior Special Adviser to the President, Garba Shehu had fired back at Senator Abaribe for calling on the President to resign due to the alarming rate of insecurity in the country.
Garba Sheu as expected did not mince word while replying Senator Abaribe, as he called the statement created to Senator from Abia State as ‘foolish’.
The Presidential spokesman in a series of tweets released on his official twitter handle on Wednesday 29th January 2020, accused Senator Abaribe of aiding the escape of traitorous and treasonable suspects.
He added that If a leader like President Buhari needs to resign, there are millions of other Nigerians who need to resign, including Senator Abaribe for the role he played in the Nnamdi Kanu saga.
“President Buhari, to resign on what basis? Just because some characters think that President Buhari should resign, then they expect him to quit. That call does not represent the opinion of the country.
This is the opinion of an armchair critic, known for making stray comments.
If a leader like President Buhari needs to resign, there are millions of other Nigerians who need to resign, including Senator Abaribe who unlocked the door to enable the escape of traitorous and treasonable suspects”.
Garba Shehu continued by adding that:
“He signed the bond for the court to release Nnamdi Kanu on bail, from which moment the suspect disappeared into the thin air.
Senator Abaribe has failed repeated deadlines to return Kanu to the court for trial, yet he has the effrontery with which to accuse someone of failing to the bidding of the law.
This is a man who should have replaced the suspects he failed to produce in the correctional facility.
Abaribe’s party raped the nation and left it collapsing in 2015 and President Buhari is fixing things up all the years he is in office.
President Buhari is working hard to keep Nigeria and Nigerians out of the harm terrorists have unleashed in the entire Sahel and Sub-Saharan Africa with the support of Nigerians and our foreign friends, he is going to finish off these terrorists. He alone can do it” he said.