17 June 2020. VON: The Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari, has condoled with the people and government of Sokoto state over recent bandit killings.
President Buhari, who was represented by a high-powered delegation of the security apparatus, led by the National Security Adviser NSA, General Babagana Monguno, (Rtd), gave the condolence to Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal in Sokoto.
In a statement issued by Governor Tambuwal’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Muhammad Bello, to journalists said General Monguno expressed shock and sadness over the killings by bandits.
The NSA said President Buhari, “is not comfortable with the lack of progress” in resolving the situation, which was why the security Chiefs, on his behalf “had discussions with Governor Tambuwal on the bandits situation and the escalating situation in terms of insecurity” in Sokoto.
“When there are security issues, they are not discussed in the open. We discussed with Governor Tambuwal. We had underlining agreements and were open and frank in our discussions,” so as to instill confidence in all stakeholders across the state, region and country.
“We were to fine-tune the existing national security strategy “2019” to tackle the problem,” pointing out that his Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), is leading the federal government in this regard, the NSA said.
He assured the governor that President Buhari was concerned about closing the gaps existing between the other tiers of the government, state and local governments, in terms of synergy in tackling security breaches.
“That is why we visited Governor Tambuwal and we also visited the Sultan of Sokoto, who has a direct bearing on the grassroots elements in the State,” (Rtd) General Monguno said.
He urged people of the State especially those in the affected areas to continue to collaborate with security agencies and provide relevant information that would help to end banditry.
Other security Chiefs on the delegation include the Inspector General of Police, Muhammad Adamu; the Director-General of the Department of State Security (DSS), Yusuf Magaji Bichi; his counterpart in the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ambassador Ahmed Rufai Abubakar; the Chief of Defence Intelligence (CDI), Air Vice Marshall Mohammed Usman and the Chief of Military Intelligence, the Corps of Military Intelligence (CMI), General S.A. Adebayo.
