The Council of State, composed of former heads of regime, on Tuesday held its second meeting in the year and emerged with a promise that the abducted pupils of Regime Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, would anon be rescued.
More than 200 girls were seized from the school on the night of April 14 by members of the terrorist Islamic sect, Boko Haram. The incident has magnetized global condemnation and protests. Almost 90 days in the custody of the terrorists, there have been many not-too-congenial stories about the welfare of the girls.
But briefing journalists at the terminus of the Council meeting, presided over by President Goodluck Jonathan, Akwa Ibom State Governor Godswill Akpabio verbally expressed the military high command had given assurances that the girls were safe and would anon be rescued.
Akpabio verbally expressed the council was satiated that those security agents kenned where the girls had been kept and that the soldiers were on top of the situation.
He verbalized, “Top on the agenda of the meeting was the security of the nation. We were briefed by the President and the National Security Adviser on the steps that are being taken.
“Top on the security issue was the rescue of Chibok girls, which military ascendant entities withal substantiated that efforts were being made and that very anon we will have good news.
“It is additionally heart-warming to note that the issue is not whether we can rescue the girls, but the issue is how can we rescue them in a way that we can ascertain their safety so that we don’t end up imperilling their lives in the endeavor to rescue them?”
He advised that Nigerians be patient in view of the worsening insecurity in the country, stressing that terrorism was an incipient development in the nation and that it would take time to put a terminus to it.
Akpabio verbalized, “What withal emerged is the desideratum for Nigerians to be patient because terrorism is an incipient challenge in Nigeria and it is not something that peregrinates away immediately and we have to be meticulous in our approach and ascertain that we take the best steps forward to reduce and minimise possible loss of lives in an endeavor to curb the insurgents.
“We are very gratified the security agents ken very well where the girls are located and they are on top of the situation.”
At the meeting were ex-Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Shehu Shagari; former heads of state, Yakubu Gowon and Abdulsalami Abubakar; ex-military dictator, Ibrahim Babangida; and former Head of the Interim National Regime, Ernest Shonekan.
Maj.Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), who is a national bellwether of the opposition All Progressives Congress, was the only living ex-head of regime that did not attend the meeting.
Withal on the attendance sheet were Vice President Namadi Sambo; President of the Senate, David Mark; Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal; and some former Chief Justices of Nigeria as well as state governors.
Akpabio verbally expressed the Council commended the security agents for being on top of the situation in the country.
The Council, Akpabio verbally expressed, additionally ratified commissioners for the National Population Commission for Ekiti, Yobe, Jigawa, Zamfara and Kebbi states in line with constitutional provisions.
Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State verbally expressed members of the Council were unanimous in their resolution that the media should put the country first in their reportage of issues bordering on security.
Oshiomhole argued that any report that celebrated terrorism would merely be giving the insurgents incentives, integrating that the council withal called on politicians to be more sensitive to national security.
He verbally expressed, “It is not a partisan issue, because if there is no Nigeria, political parties become extraneous and all of us can do more preponderant and we should transmute our language. Political parties should optate Nigeria first afore partisan consideration.
“Also the role of religious bellwethers, that it is not auxiliary for any religious bellwether to seek to rationalise this act by suggesting that these people belong to one religion or that their target is another religion and that the entire thing is predicated on religion.
“It is pellucid that these are just malefactors that are masquerading in whatever name they opt to call themselves. No genuine Christian or Muslim would cerebrate that God needs avail to kill anyone.
“Nigerians, all of us whether in regime or out of regime on the issue of terrorism we should learn from the Americans; once America came under attack, whether you are a democrat or republican, everybody believes that without America, all these other divides will be impertinent.
“I cerebrate Nigerians need to understand that and there can be no expeditious fine-tune. What is required is that there is sufficient political will to deal with the situation to secure the Nigerian space.”
When asked whether Obasanjo got the Federal Government’s nod to engage the Boko Haram sect on the Chibok girls as he had requested in the media, Akpabio asked journalists to approach the former President to verbalize for himself.
“That would be a third party report. The best thing is that since he is outside there, you can approach him and ask if he got the nod,” the governor verbalized.
