Senate hold closed door meeting with service chiefs,NSA and ministers over rising insecurity

Tuesday, February 13, 2024 – The Nigerian security chiefs, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of Economy, Olawale Edun, the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji Ojo, amongst others are currently in a meeting with the Senate over the current security challenges in Nigeria.

The Senate around 11.30am suspended its rules to allow the non-lawmakers to gain access to the plenary.

Recall that the Senate President, Senator GodsWill Akpabio, had two weeks ago summoned for a meeting last Tuesday, the Chief of Army Staff, Lt – General Taoheed Lagbaj; Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla; Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshall Hassan Abubakar; the Inspector General of Police, IGP Kayode Egbetokun; Director General of Department of State Services (DSS), Yusuf Bichi; the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu; and the Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa.

However, the meeting did not hold as scheduled following the NSA and the Chief of Defence Staff’s absence.

Akpabio later said that the Senate preferred to have a robust team including that of the economic team at the meeting, the meeting was rescheduled for Tuesday (today).

Meanwhile, the Senate extended the invitation to the Minister of Defence, Abubakar Badaru; Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawale; Minister of Police Affairs, Senator Ibrahim Geidam; Minister of State for Police Affairs, Imaan Ibrahim; Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji Ojo; Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of Economy, Olawale Edun and the Director General of National Intelligence Agency, Ahmed Rufai Abubakar.

The Senate President, while welcoming the guests, thanked the security chiefs for honouring the invitation of the lawmakers last Tuesday.

According to The Punch,  the Senate leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, moved a motion that the Senate resolved into a closed-door session to receive security briefings.

The lawmakers and the various heads of security and economic teams, thereafter, went into a closed-door session after a voice vote by the Senate President.