Tinubu puts Nigerian security structure on unprecedented alert
Coming in the wake of the kidnapping of 25 school girls, the killing of an army general by Boko Haram terrorists and similar attacks on innocent citizens in other parts of the country, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has reportedly put the country’s “ security apparatuses on the highest alert ever.”
Stating this at a press conference on Wednesday, the minister of information and national orientation, Mohammed Idris, adds that President Tinubu charged the security forces to “actively pursue and eliminate terrorists, bandits, and criminal elements wherever they may be in Nigeria.”
“Our security forces have also been mandated to swiftly rescue the abducted Kebbi school girls and reunite them with their families,” Idris stated.
This is in addition to the President’s order that more troops and policemen be deployed to Eruku, in Kwara State, where some unknown armed men attacked a church recently.
The government said it rejects the “divisive and narrow rhetoric seeking to frame the nation’s security challenges in sectarian (and religious) terms”, insisting that “Nigeria’s security landscape is (instead) a complex combination of terrorism, banditry, and criminality that has claimed the lives and livelihoods of citizens across all ethnic and religious backgrounds.”
He warned that attempts to mischaracterize Nigeria’s security challenges would be “counterproductive to national unity.”
Furthermore, Idris urged “Nigerians to stand as one”, stating that the “Federal Government is deploying all available resources and strategies to decisively win this battle for the nation’s security and future.”
