The head of the full gamut of the country’s security and intelligence architecture and National Security Adviser, Major-General Babagana Munguno (rtd), is not happy with the garrulous nature of Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir el Rufai.
whwel-Rufai, exasperated by the quantum of killings in his domain, lately lamented the attacks of terrorists, though the security agencies, as he disclosed, have a load of intelligence on the bad men at their disposal.
Last March, after the Kaduna train attack that claimed at least eight lives, with 21 injured and scores still in terrorists’ captivity, el-Rufai said the camps and phone numbers of the bandits are known by the security agencies. Thousands of others have been killed in the state by terrorists of all ethnic and religious shades since el Rufai became Governor seven years ago.
Said the Governor last month: “We know where their camps are. We know where they are. The SSS have their phone numbers. They listen to them, and they give me the report. We know what they are planning. We shouldn’t be waiting for them to attack. Why can’t we go after them?” .
“We are in a state of war. This place should be declared a war zone. The army, air force, and the police should go in there and kill them. Will there be innocent casualties? Yes! In every war situation, there are casualties.”
But Monguno, whose agents and officers are seen as not proactive enough, berated the Kaduna State Governor, for his talkative nature, which he said is compromising security in the state.
Fielding questions from State House correspondents on Thursday, after President Muhammadu Buhari met with heads of security agencies, the NSA criticised el-Rufai for talking too much on security matters.
His words, “el-Rufai’s comments could compromise the security situation as the bandits can relocate to other destinations if they know that their current hideout is known.
“Governor Nasir el Rufai spoke about the security agencies saying we know who they are, where they are. Again, that is dangerous.
“When you start talking too much. You give away a lot. Now, even if they say we know where they are, that in itself is already a problem. Because once you say it, whether it is true or false, the person who has your people in captivity will move to another location.
“It’s just as simple as that. So sometimes it is best to just keep silent, mum is the word.”
Meanwhile, Monguno disclosed that President Muhammadu Buhari has directed security agencies to immediately rescue all the people kidnapped by armed persons across Nigeria.
“The President spoke about his sadness in respect of recent security challenges and developments we have had in the country, in particular the incident in which several Nigerians lost their lives with many more taken into captivity by criminals and bandits,” Mr Monguno said.
“Not just those that were captured during the last Kaduna –bound train incident but those that have been in captivity in other parts of the country.
“The President has directed all the operational and intelligence elements to rescue all of these innocent people immediately and unhurt. This is the basis on which other issues were discussed.
“The Chief of Defence Staff, the Service Chiefs and the Inspector General of Police all briefed the president on occurrences in their respective organizations,” the retired major-general said.
He said he made some recommendations on how to tackle the security challenges adding that the president is reviewing the recommendations.
“I submitted a memo to Council and my recommendations are being looked into by the president. My recommendations are wide-ranging and they touch on all aspects of security, starting with the level of security of our land borders as well as within the country itself,” he said.
According to him, steps are being taken to secure all the land borders to address the threats coming from outside the country.
Noting the shift in threats from the North-eastern part to the North-west and North-central, he said, “It has to be contained collectively by both the armed forces and constabulary forces but the intelligence agencies have also been directed to enhance the acquisition of intelligence.”
He called for cooperation from all and sundry. “Unless the wider society, right down to the local governments are willing to give the type of information needed in order to block the activities of these criminals, this situation will continue to linger beyond whatever time frame we are looking at towards ending this problem, he said.”
