President Muhamadu Buhari on Thursday gave matching orders to Service Chiefs to arrest the current spate of insecurity across the country.
The President gave the orders when he met with Service Chiefs on Thursday, the second in two days.
The Chief of Defence Staff, Gabriel Olonisakin, said the President ordered the Service Chiefs to “immediately deal ruthlessly with the security challenges”, while briefing State House Correspondents after the Security Council meeting which held behind closed doors at the Presidential Villa, Thursday.
This is just as the Acting Inspector General of Police, IGP , Mohammed Adamu, on Thursday, said security agencies have cleared the Abuja- Kaduna road of kidnappers.
He declared that the road is now free of the urchins and miscreants who often block and kidnap commuters for a ransom.
“ The matching order he gave is for us to deal with the issues ruthlessly and immediately, so that the bandits can be dealt with , as well as those issues hampering our security are properly addressed”
He disclosed that the regular security council meetings are held to review security situations across the country in general and in Zamfara in particular as well as fine tune security operations to meet current needs as they arise.
He disclosed that the meeting reviewed the cases of kidnapping , banditry as well as associated issues.
Security Chiefs used opportunity to brief the President on critical security issues, requiring urgent attention.
The IGP , while also speaking after the meeting assured Nigerians that the Abuja -Kaduna road is now safe.
“ I want to assure Nigerians that the Abuja- Kaduna road is now safe and that we have cleared the road all through. We have arrested a lot of the kidnappers and during the confrontation with some of them, some were fatally injured.
“So the road is cleared and our joint security patrol teams are there for 24 hours”
The meeting was attended by the Defence Minister, Mansur Dan-Ali, Babagana Monguno, national security adviser, Chief of Defence Staff, Gabriel Olonisakin,
Chief of Army staff, Tukur Buratai, chief of Air Staff, Sadique Abubakar, chief of Naval Staff, Ibok-Ete Ekwe Iba
Others are the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, National Intelligence Agency, Ahmed Abubakar and Director General of the Department of State Security Service, DSS, Yusuf Bichi.
The order is coming against the backdrop of increasing killings across the country, especially in Zamfara and Katsina States as well as the upsurge in kidnappings on the Abuja/ Kaduna expressway.
Tony Ailemen, Abuja
