SENATORS
and service chiefs held a six-hour meeting in Abuja on Wednesday to review
threat to Lagos by the violent Islamic sect, Boko Haram.
Present
at the meeting, which held behind closed doors at the Senate chamber between
10.56 am and 5.00pm, were the Chief of Defence Staff, Admiral Sa’id Ola
Ibrahim; Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Azubuike Ihejirika; Chief of Naval
Staff, Vice-Admiral Dele Ezeoba; andChief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh.
Also in
attendance were the Director General of the Directorate of State Services, Ita
Ekpeyong; the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, represented by
Deputy Inspector General (Administration), Suleiman Fakai.
While
the security chiefs were billed to brief the senators on their operations
concerning curtailing the Boko Hara menace and insecurity generally in the
country, our correspondents learnt that the security chiefs were reluctant to
give details of their operations.
At a
point during the meeting, the Senators were said to have queried the
representation sent by the IG, wondering while Fakai who is in charge of
administration should represent the police chief at a meeting to discuss
operational strategies.
Senators
were quoted to have said the DIG in charge of operations could have made better
input to the discussions since the IG was said to be on another official
assignment .
Fakai
reportedly explained to the Senate that he had to stand in for his boss because
the DIG in charge of operations was briefing the President on the same issue
being discussed at the senate at about the same time.
A
Senator at the meeting who pleaded for anonymity confided in one of our
correspondents, “You know these are security men and they are fully aware that
they are speaking to politicians. They chose their words carefully so that they
will not play into the hands of people they are dealing with.
“You
are aware that one or two of our colleagues in the Senate are facing
investigation or trial for links with the Boko Haram group.
“After
their briefing, we asked general questions about the seriousness of the threat
we are facing and whether their strategy would get the job done.
“One of
us asked what their position was on calls for dialogue with the sect and the unanimous
answer they gave was that they were in support of whatever decision the
President takes.”
Asked
what specifically was discussed about Lagos, the source said, “You know I can’t
give you details. Everyone was concerned because attacking our commercial
capital will have dire consequences. We all agreed that we must do everything
to nip it in the bud. On the whole, all options are open. That is all I can
tell you.”
Another
source said, “At some point it appeared as if there was a sense of helplessness
over the issue.”
He
however said that, unlike before, they noticed a sense of inter-agency
collaboration “at least in the area of what to divulge.”
A
defence source said that the service chiefs were summoned by the Senate to
brief the senators on the state of security in the country.
The
senators were said to have demanded explanations from the Chief of Defence
Staff and the chiefs of the three services of the nation’s Armed Forces on the
escalating cases of murder and kidnapping in the country.
They
were said to have observed that stories of killings have become a daily
occurrence in the society and this should be stopped.
At the
end of the meeting, the President of the Senate said, “At plenary, the Senate
was briefed by the Service Chiefs and afterwards they took questions on the
same subject matter.”
At a
press briefing shortly afterwards, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on
Information and Media, Eyinnnaya Abaribe, told reporters that the Senate was
satisfied with the briefing it received.
He
said, “The Senate devoted the entire plenary to an interaction with the service
chiefs and heads of security agencies in Nigeria with a view to finding out
problems and work with the different security agencies in Nigeria.
“We are
satisfied with the level of interaction and the efforts aimed at making Nigeria
a safe place, we are calling on Nigerians to cooperate with our security
agencies to resolve these issues. “
Abaribe
added, “All options on how to operate and fight terrorism for which we also
signed several protocols I ‘m sure that all these kind of interaction that our
security agencies are having with their counterparts in terms of security means
that the fight against global terrorism is a collective one.”
Source: Punch
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