By Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
Nigerians and the international community have been told to discountenance any suggestion of in-fighting or division in the nation’s security ranks.
According to a Presidency source, the security chiefs are not only 100 per cent loyal to President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, but also working in synergy towards tackling the nation’s security challenges.
The co-operation, it said, has made it possible for the team to successful degrade Boko Haram terrorists sect in the North east as well as checkmate other groups threatening the peace and security of the nation.
To drive home the point that there was no division, a top government official who spoke with select journalists in Abuja yesterday, said the National Security Adviser (NSA), Major General Babagana Munguno (retd) meets with all the security chiefs or their representatives on a regular basis.
The meetings, the source noted, provide the team the needed forum to “brainstorm, work harmoniously and strategise on ways to check criminal activities. There is no discord in the nation’s intelligence community and there will never be. Anyone alleging otherwise is only imagining things. I can assure you there is no friction or disaffection within the rank security.”
Specifically, the source said there was no cold war between the National Security Adviser (NSA) and the Director-General of the Department of State Security (DSS), as being alleged in some quarters.
“I can assure you that no such thing between the two, as far as I know. The DSS boss and other top security officers have been attending meetings, which the NSA chairs to coordinate the intelligence community. Those sponsoring the rumour are bent on causing discord within the intelligence community and security apparatus of the government.”
The source appealed to “Nigerians and the international community to disregard any false information questioning the loyalty and cohesion of the security apparatus.”
Last month, the umbrella body of militants in Niger Delta, the Joint Niger Delta Liberation Force (JNDLF), alleged that some senior military officers were scheming to overthrow the administration of President Buhari.
In a letter to President Buhari, the militants group alleged that some military officers were instigating unrests in Niger Delta as part of their strategies to carry out a coup.
They also alleged that some military officers have reached out to leaders of militant groups on the coup plot.
But the military dismissed the coup theory.
“The report is not true and the Nigerian Army hereby distances itself from this weighty allegation. We also see this speculation as a dangerous distraction to our effort in fighting the insurgency and other criminal elements in the country,” the army spokesman, Col. Sani Usman, said in a statement.
source : Sun News
