24th April, 2014
Ayorinde Oluokun/Abuja
The enlarged security meeting between President Goodluck Jonathan, the 36 state governors and the Nigeria military chiefs over the worsening security situation in the country took off this afternoon at Aso Rock Presidential Villa, Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.
The meeting earlier scheduled to hold Wednesday was shifted to today for undisclosed reasons. Most of the governors, including those of opposition All Progressives Congress, APC, have arrived for the meeting as at the time of writing this story.
At the mmeeting some of the governors were represented by their deputies. All the service chiefs, the Chief of Defence Staff and the Inspector General of Police are also attending the meeting.
Also at the meeting are the Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Muhammad Abubakar III, and the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Ayo Oritsejafor. The meeting has already kicked off as at the time of filing in this story.
The meeting is a follow-up to an earlier one Jonathan held with the governors of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, last Thursday.
All Progressives Congress (APC) governors were absent at that first meeting because they were not invited, according to Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State.
The APC had postponed to Saturday, its state congresses earlier scheduled for yesterday in order to allow its governors to attend the security meeting with the president.
President Jonathan had summoned an enlarged security meeting to enable members of the National Security Council and the State Governors deliberate on national security and generate ideas on the way forward.
The meeting was called in response to increasing activity of the insurgent group, Boko Haram which claimed responsibility for the recent bomb blast at Nyanya motor park, a suburb of the capital city, Abuja.
There have also been frequent attacks in the North East, including abduction of hundreds of school girls in Borno by the terrorist group.
The meeting is expected to come up with suggestions on how to tackle the challenges of Boko Haram insurgency in North East Nigeria and other security problems confronting the country.