TheCable

President Muhammadu Buhari, on Friday, met with some northern governors and service chiefs at the presidential villa, Abuja.

Although details of the meeting are yet to be known, TheCable understands that it was about solving the security issues affecting parts of the northern region.

An insider, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the meeting was in connection to the security situation in the states whose governors were in attendance.

“It was all about finding a sustainable solution to the security situation in those northern states,” the source said.

“If you observed, the problems facing all the states represented are almost uniform; banditry and terrorism. So it’s something like a central situation room thing.”

Governors at the meeting were Simon Lalong of Plateau; Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna; Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano; Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto, Sani Bello of Niger; Abubakar Badaru of Jigawa; Umara Zulum of Borno; Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi and Bello Matawalle of Zamfara.

The governors absent were Bello Masari of Katsina and Mai Mala Buni of Yobe.

Bashir Magashi, minister of defence, Babagana Monguno, national security adviser (NSA); Lucky Irabor, chief of defence staff; Farouk Yahaya, chief of army staff; Awwal Gambo, chief of naval staff, and Oladayo Amao, chief of air staff, were in attendance.

Others were Baba Usman, inspector-general of police, Yusuf Bichi; director-general of the Department of State Service (DSS), and Ahmed Abubakar, director-general of the NationaI Itelligence Agency (NIA).