By Gabriel Atumeyi
365Daily – President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday, September 7, 2021, received briefings from the Chief of Defence Staff, Service Chiefs, the Inspector General of Police, and other heads of security agencies at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Present at the meeting were the Ministers of Defence, Bashir Magashi; Justice, Abubakar Malami; Police Affairs, Maigari Dingyadi; Interior, Rauf Aregbesola; and Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama.
365Daily gathered that the meeting was about the current security situation across the country, with focus on how to win the war against insecurity.
In a Facebook post announcing the meeting, the Special Adviser to the President, Femi Adesina, wrote, “President Buhari receives Security Briefing in State House on 7th Sep 2021.”
The parley is coming at a time when the security situation in the country has worsened with the emergence of criminal gangs, often referred as bandits, who have continued to wreck havoc and chaos across the country, especially in the Northwest.
The recent and most embarrassing security breach took place at the Nigerian Defense Academy (NDA) in Kaduna, where two officers were killed and one abducted.
In a bid to fight banditry, telecom companies have been ordered to suspend operations in Zamfara State, considered the hotbed of banditry in the country.
An estimated 1,000 students have been taken in similar raids since December 2020, with hefty ransoms running into hundreds of millions paid to secure their release.
Reports indicate that many other Nigerians have also fallen victims to abductions, with many selling off priced properties or taking loans to pay for their freedom. In some cases, some were killed, maimed or abused while in captivity.