The Minister of Defence, Major General Bashir Magashi, (rtd) on Tuesday said the nation’s security forces have beefed up security within the Federal Capital Teritory (FCT), Abuja and the surrounding states following the recent Security alerts by several embassies in the country .
The Minister who stated this when he appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on Defence to defend the Ministry’s 2023 budget proposal declared that there was no cause for concern based on the assurances from the Security and Intelligence Community
The Minister, while urging all and sundry to be vigilant at all the time, said there was no smoke without fire, adding that the situation was absolutely under total control of the Security Forces .
According to him, “If you remember, yesterday, the security council met and we discussed this threat and it was believed that we will not take it lightly. We tried to verify the source of the threat or the pronouncement made by the US government. We tried to identify countries that were also interested in the same remarks made by the US government and we are of the opinion that the best way to go about it is to continue and where possible beef up security in Abuja and its contiguous states, that is Nasarawa, Niger and the rest of them.
“However, we believe that there is no smoke without fire and in that regard, we were able to subject the details to our intelligence organizations and they have provided answers to those areas which the government is in doubt and we realized that what we need is to be extra vigilant to prevent any activity of the bandits, from where the threat is likely, we will be able to provide enough forces that can neutralize those kinds of situations.
“I want to assure members that the government is on top of the situation. Based on the security meeting and what we have on the ground, I think what we need is prayers from the United States, not giving us information that will make our citizens to be either confused or not being able to take appropriate action. And our Minister of Foreign Affairs is taking that up to ensure that information of such nature is brought to the notice of the ministry before disseminating to the society.
“I think we are on top of the situation. The threat is not very dire but we are not taking it lightly. We are doing all we can to ensure that peace and progress of Nigeria is maintained.”
