Ibekimi Oriamaja Reporting for TrackNews
The emergency National Security Council meeting called by President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday has been made public.
As previously reported by Naija News, President Buhari met with service chiefs at Abuja’s Presidential Villa following the attack on Kuje Prison in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The meeting was attended by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, and some cabinet ministers.
There were also service chiefs, the President’s Chief of Staff, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, and the National Security Adviser (NSA), Major General Babagana Monguno (retd). Also present were Ministers of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola; Police Affairs, Maigari Dingyadi; Defense, Maj. Gen. Bashir Magashi (rtd.); and Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami.
Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor, Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Farouk Yahaya; and the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Isiaka Oladayo Amao were also in attendance.
Addressing State House Correspondents after the meeting, Minister of Police Affairs, Muhammad Dingyadi, said the security council has agreed to take proactive measures to forestall the recurrence of such incidents.
Interior Minister Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, Police Affairs Minister Maigari Dingyadi, Defense Minister Maj. Gen. Bashir Magashi (rtd. ), and Attorney-General and Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami were all in attendance.
Lieutenant General Farouk Yahaya, Chief of Army Staff, and Air Marshal Isiaka Oladayo Amao, Chief of Air Staff, were also present.
Following the meeting, Muhammad Dingyadi, Minister of Police Affairs, told State House Correspondents that the security council agreed to take preventative measures to avoid similar incidents in the future.
According to the minister, the council has directed service chiefs to conduct an investigation into the Kuje prison attack.
The terrorists who attacked the Kuje prison, according to Dingyadi, arrived with superior weapons and in greater numbers than anyone expected.
He stated that the President was surprised that what occurred in Kuje occurred despite all of the security measures put in place to prevent such an incident.
The minister stated that those on duty at the facility did their best but were outmanned, and that some of the attackers were killed.
He said: “I want to assure you that all those who were supposed to play a role in ensuring that the attack was neutralised did the best that they could to neutralise it.
“I think what helped them was the number of people they came with and the superior weapons that they came with. And because nobody anticipated it, the few people who were there guarding the place could not withstand the number that they came with. I think that was what happened.
“Mr. President was deeply concerned about these developments, and he initiated this meeting to enable security agencies, the service chiefs, inspector-general of police, to brief the council on what actually happened and the way forward.
“We had a very successful meeting and the council has agreed to take proactive measures that will ensure that repeat of what happened these few days would not be witnessed anymore.”
