Buhari warns security chiefs that he isn't ready to leave office a failure

President Muhammadu Buhari has yet again read out the riot act to his security chiefs during a meeting that held at the Presidential Villa on Thursday, August 19, 2021.

It was the first meeting the president was having with his service chiefs after his latest trip to London for medical reasons.

The president told the security chiefs that he is not prepared to leave office a failure and that he is determined to turn things around on the security front, as kidnapping-for-ransom and terrorism engulfs all of Nigeria.

National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno, conveyed the president's message to State House correspondents after the meeting.

Moguno said: “It is evident that a lot of successes have been recorded. Large numbers of people are surrendering in the northeast as a consequence of the relentless efforts of the armed forces, intelligence and security agencies.

“This is very, very evident. We’ve never had such large numbers of people defecting from the other side, back to the Nigerian side, mainly, as a result of many issues within the theatre, issues of infighting among the various factions of the terrorist groups.

“But the new drive of the armed forces, the police, the intelligence agencies, there’s been greatest cooperation, greater synergy intelligence sharing, as well as our partners in the regional intelligence fusion unit."

According to Monguno, the president also said he won't hesitate to fire his current security chiefs who were appointed into their new roles in January.

“So the president was briefed, the president is quite happy that there’s been tremendous success, especially with the advent of the new service chiefs and inspector-general of police.

“And he’s also made it very, very clear that he’s not ready to exit government as a failure. He is not going to tolerate that he’s made changes and is ready to make further changes if he is not satisfied.

"He is completely determined to ensure that there’s a turnaround in the fortunes in the theatre of operations,” Monguno added.

Insecurity has worsened across Nigeria since Buhari, a retired army general, assumed the role of the nation's Commander-in-Chief in 2015.