President Muhammadu Buhari has issued an order to the country’s security chiefs to recover all areas being occupied by insurgents, bandits and kidnappers all over the country.
President Buhari issued the order during the just-concluded meeting of the National Security Council, the National Security Adviser (NSA), retired Maj.-Gen. Babagana Monguno told State House correspondents on Wednesday.
“Therefore, both the defence and intelligence organisations have been charged that while we look forward to having a peaceful, non-kinetic resolution, we will not allow this country to drift into state failure.
“And with effect from today, the new service chiefs have been given directives by the Minister of Defence, conveyed by the President to the Minister of Defence, to reclaim all areas that have been dominated by bandits, by kidnappers and other scoundrels or scallywags.
“In doing so, I’ve also asked all the intelligence agencies to collapse all their efforts onto one platform, so that with the convergence of efforts, we will be able to give the required intelligence to the operational elements of government.
“Now, I need to stress also that there are individuals in this country who have assumed a status that is beyond what they should be. The intelligence from our own sources, the intelligence at my disposal reveals that we have certain entities, certain individuals who are making capital out of insecurity, especially kidnapping.
“This is a situation that has to be brought to an end and I’m sending a warning to anybody who is hiding beneath a veneer of some status, whether official, in terms of an official capacity or traditional or religious, to stoke the flames of disorder.
“The government is very serious about this. As I said, we’re drifting into a situation that we can no longer afford to lose lives.
“We are not going to be blackmailed, we’re going to use whatever is at our disposal, while operating within the confines of legitimacy, within the confines of legality, but the government has a responsibility to assert its will, using the instruments at its disposal to keep the state moving, alive, happy in prosperity, this will not be compromised,’’ he warned.
