Some of the suspected terrorists who masterminded Thursday’s rocket attacks on Maiduguri ahead of President Muhammadu Buhari’s visit have been eliminated, Police Inspector-General Alkali Baba Usman revealed yesterday.
The IGP broke the news to State House correspondents as he emerged from a meeting of the Security Council at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
The police chief, with who was Interior Minister Rauf Aregbesola, said though government and the security circle were particularly concerned about the rocket attacks, the target of the terrorists was defeated by security forces.
The meeting was presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Usman said that Buhari, during yesterday’s security meeting, tasked all security and intelligence chiefs in attendance to increase the heat against terrorists and other criminals.
Responding to a question on the rocket attacks, Usman said: “Yes, it has been done before and it has also been done even after that. Some of those who must have planned and thrown those rockets have been taken out.
“Their launching into major towns, their launch in Maiduguri is a serious concern and it has been seriously checkmated and there are efforts to continuously checkmate it.
“What they did yesterday (Thursday), yes they have done it, but to a large extent they have not achieved much of what they intended to achieve because of the security, particularly the military, put in place.”
Speaking on the instructions of President Buhari to security and intelligence chiefs on new threats, Usman said they were asked to spare no terrorist or criminal, adding that the target now should be crime prevention.
“The marching orders are always the same; you have even told Nigerians the marching orders of the President. It has always been the same. There is no space, there is no tolerance of any threat to security.
“There is no sparing of any terrorist and there must be an intelligence gathering. There must be proactive prevention of crime and there must be checkmating of all those that are involved in criminal activities, whether it be terrorism, banditry or armed robbery or whatever, and that is what we are trying to do to the best of our knowledge and ability,” he said.
