Buhari, Buratai in meeting at Presidential Villa

President Muhammadu Buhari is currently holding a closed door meeting with the Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Daily Trust learned that the meeting might be related to the current security situation in the country.

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The security situation in the country is deteriorating.

No fewer than 17 people, including a Police officer, were feared dead after gunmen attacked two communities and the Kaura Divisional Police Headquarters in Kaduna’s Kaura Local Government Area on Sunday night.

According to reliable sources, Kukum Daji and Manyii Kurum communities in Sabon Gari Manchok were attacked by gunmen leaving no fewer than 17 people killed and many others with varying degrees of gunshot wounds.

On Saturday morning, armed bandits allegedly killed 16 soldiers and injured 30 in an ambush around Shimfida in Jibia Local Government Area of Katsina.

Few days ago in Kaduna, kidnappers allegedly abducted six persons, including a police woman.

President Buhari had, on June 18 this year, warned heads of the security agencies against any further escalation of the security situation in the country, telling them that their “best is not good enough”.

The President, who said that he would not accept any further escalation of the current situation as no one among them was forced on him, added that it was left for the heads of security agencies to live up to expectations.

He also underscored the need for them to take into consideration the “wider implication of the gradual decent of the security of the country” and called for “immediate reversal of the current trend” and “misfortunes in all their dimensions”.

The National Security Adviser, retired Major General Babagana Monguno, who briefed State House reporters on the outcome of the meeting last month, disclosed that President Buhari was “unhappy and concerned” over the current security situation, said the President also told heads of the security agencies that his administration came to power on the promise to tackle the security challenge, revive the economy, and deal with the scourge of corruption.

He said the pursuit of economic growth and the war on corruption would be an “exercise in futility” without security.

The NSA said he submitted that the current effort to tackle security challenge would not take the country to promised land unless the government put an end to the unrestrained acquisition of unregistered SIM cards.

He said the President had directed him to work with the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Pantami, to tackle the issue.

He sought the assistance of heads of security agencies, especially the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu and the Director General of Department of State Services (DSS) to address the challenge posed by unregistered SIM cards.

Munguno, who said the President was also disturbed by lack of synergy among the security agencies, called the Governors of North West and Niger State for a meeting on the current security challenge.