FG orders military to rescue abducted girls

By Lawrence Olaoye

The expanded National Security Council meeting between President Goodluck Jonathan, state governors and the heads of the various security agencies and para-military organizations ended yesterday evening with a directive to the military to immediately rescue school girls abducted in Chibok, Borno state.

Some key decisions concerning the security situation in the country were taken at the meeting which held at the Presidential Villa in Abuja. The meeting began at about 12:10 pm and lasted till about 6: 45pm.

Security forces were given the marching order to go in search of the school girls abducted by insurgents from Chibok in Borno State and ensure they were all rescued unharmed.

It was also decided that security agencies should adopt both the soft and hard approach in dealing with the insurgency.

To address the increasing crisis between Fulani herdsmen and farmers, the council decided that henceforth, herdsmen would be domesticated and restricted to designated areas to graze their cattle.

The council, at the end of the meeting, said that security is everybody’s business and all Nigerians must be security-conscious.

They also advised adherents of the various faiths to practise religion without acrimony, while security operatives were asked to be more professional.

The meeting was also attended by the President of the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs and Sultan of Sokoto, His Eminence, Saad Abubakar III and the Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor.

The expanded National Security Council meeting was summoned by President Jonathan following the bombing in Nyanya, Abuja and the abduction of over one Hundred students from a secondary school in Borno.

Twenty-four governors were in attendance while the governors of Jigawa, Imo, Oyo, Rivers, Kano, Ogun, Plateau, Edo and Yobe were represented by their deputies.

Those in attendance were Willie Obiano (Anambra), Theodore Orji (Abia), Abdulaziz Yari (Zamfara), Seriake Dickson (Bayelsa) Gabriel Suswam (Benue), Martins Elechi (Ebonyi) Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara), Emmanuel Uduaghan (Delta), Murtala Nyako (Adamawa), Kashim Shettima (Borno), Aliyu Wamako (Sokoto), Ramalan Yero (Kaduna ), and Garba Umar (Taraba).

Others in attendance include Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti), Tanko Al-Makura (Nasarawa), Saidu Dakingari (Kebbi), Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom), Babangida Aliyu (Niger), Olusegun Mimiko (Ondo), Lyel Imoke (Cross River), Isa Yuguda (Bauchi), Ibrahim Shema (Katsina), Ibrahim Dankwanbo(Gombe), and Sullivan Chime (Enugu).

The security chiefs in attendance included the Chiefs of Army, Navy and Air Force, as well as the Inspector-General of Police, the Comptrollers-General of Customs and Immigration, Corp Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corps and the Commandant-General of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).

The Interior Minister, Mr. Abba Moro, Minister of Defence, General Aliyu Gusau (rtd), the Minister of Police Affairs, Mr. Abduljelil Adesiyan, the Foreign Affairs Minister, Viola Onwuleri, Agriculture Minister, Akinwunmi Adesina and the Attorney-General of the Federation, Mohammed Adoke (SAN), were also present.