Another meeting of the President is ongoing at the Presidential Villa Abuja to find solutions to the lingering insecurity across the nation.
President Muhammadu Buhar is presiding over the meeting which his Personal Assistant, Bashir Ahmed, said “is majorly discussing the recent events on the Abuja-Kaduna highway and other security challenges elsewhere.”
On Sunday, kidnappers blocked the Kaduna-Abuja highway four times at different points, killing at least 15 people and abducting an unknown number of travelers including by eight students of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria.
But as usual in such incidents, the Nigerian Army, Police and the Kaduna State government disputed the figures, saying that only two people died. But residents of the communities living along the highway and other witnesses contradicted the figures by the security forces.
This is coming as bandits on Monday night killed the District Head of Gidan Zaki, in Atyap Chiefdom, Zango Kataf local government area of Kaduna State, along with one of his sons.
Reports said that the bandits, who have been terrorizing the Northwest and Northcentral regions of Nigeria, arrived the community at about 12 midnight on Monday. They killed the District Head, Mr. Haruna Kuyet, his son. They also shot his wife, who is currently receiving treatment at an undisclosed hospital.
Zango Kataf Local Government Council Secretary, Mr. Elisha Sako, condemned the attack, saying that security operatives have since been deployed to the community to restore normalcy and trail the perpetrators of the dastardly act.
Apart from the banditry attacks, there is also the Boko Haram/Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP) terrorism in the Northeast and the general insecurity in the Southern regions of the country.
The National Security Council meeting is being attended by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha; Chief of Staff to the President, Professor Ibrahim Gambari; Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami; Ministers of Defence, Major General Bashir Salihi Magashi; Interior, Rauf Aregbesola; Foreign Affairs, Godffery Onyeama and Police Affairs, Muhammad Dingyadi.
Service chiefs in attendance include Chief of Defense Staff, General Gabriel Olonisakin; Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai; Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok Ekwe Ibas; Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshall Sadique Abubakar; Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu; Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ahmed Rafa’i Abubakar; and the Director-General of the Directorate of State Services (DSS) Yusuf Magaji Bichi.
