North-West govs to meet NSA on Monday over insecurity in region

Governors in the North-Western parts of Nigeria are set to meet with the National Security Adviser (NSA), Major-General Babagana Monguno (Rtd), on Monday in Kaduna over the rising insecurity that has been bedeviling the region.

This was contained in a directive from President Muhammadu Buhari who ordered that there must be a clear pathway to ending the resurgent banditry that has continued to cost lives and the displacement of thousands of families from their towns and villages.

Monguno who also confirmed this development in a statement on Saturday, said he will meet with all the seven governors from the North-West region in a town-hall meeting scheduled for Monday in order to address growing insecurity in the region.

The statement reads in part:

“As part of renewed commitment to make Nigeria safe and secure, the meeting resolved to strengthen inter-agency coordination, stakeholders’ engagement and consultation in order to find lasting solution to the multiple security threats.

“Working with the Service Chiefs and Heads of Security and Intelligence Agencies, the National Security Adviser is coordinating a Whole-of-Government and Whole-of Society approach that cuts across the Legislature, Judiciary, Ministries and Departments, States and Local Governments and the Civil Society to ensure that every stakeholder plays a role in securing our towns and villages.

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“This first town-hall meeting is expected to provide direct assessment of the security situation, generate local feedback and recommendations, encourage geo-political synchronisation of effort among States and to also create a pathway to lasting peace and security.

“The NSA believes that addressing these threats call for the deployment of all national assets, including the cooperation of all Nigerians.”

According to the NSA who revealed this in Kano where he went to revalidate his membership of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), the meeting was convened on the heels of recent disagreements among some of the governors which border on whether to give amnesty to bandits or not.

While the Zamfara State Governor, Bello Matawwale, is keen to follow the advice of renowned Islamic cleric, Sheikh Abubakar Gumi, to negotiate and grant amnesty to bandits who have been terrorizing the state, Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, on the other hand, is against such moves as he stated clearly that his administration would never concede to granting amnesty to bandits and other criminals.

In an interview with BBC Hausa, El-Rufai had ruled out the issue of forgiveness and compensation for bandits as has been advocated by Gumi who is based in the state.

However, Kano State Governor Abdullahi Ganduje, in his own interview with Radio France International, countered El-Rufai by saying his Kaduna State counterpart “was either misunderstood or ill-informed on the insecurity affecting the north by saying using force with the bandits is the only solution.”

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