SECURITY ALERT WITH JIDE

Chief of Defense staff and IGP in Kaduna

The Chief of Defense staff, Air Marshall Oluseyi Petinrin, has arrived in troubled Kaduna state with the Acting Inspector General of Police, Muhammed Abubakar in a bid to address the raging violence in the state.

The security chiefs went into a close door meeting with the governor of the state, Patrick Yakowa, as soon as they arrived.

Kaduna state came under siege after a spate of suicide bombings, targeting churches sparked a wave of reprisal and counter reprisal attacks that has left over 60 people dead.

Earlier, the security chiefs commiserated with the government and people of the state over the unfortunate bomb blast which rocked three churches in the state on Sunday.

They both assured residents that security agencies will collaborate more to ensure that normalcy returns to the state.

The Police boss has also revealed that more police officers are being deployed to troubled spots in both Kaduna and Yobe states in order to forestall any further security breach.

The Kaduna state government on Tuesday, re-imposed a 24-hour curfew all over the state, following a renewed outbreak of reprisals.

The Vice President Nnamadi Sambo, had on Tuesday, met with all the service chiefs in Abuja to discuss and review the security situation in Kaduna and Yobe states, following the persistent violence recorded in the two states, in the last three days,

The meeting, which was held at the Presidential Villa behind closed door, was attended by the National Security Adviser, General Owoye Azazi; the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshall Oluseyi Petinrin; Chief of Army Staff Lt. Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika and the Director-General of State Security Service, Mr. Ekpeyong Ita.

Others were the Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice Marshall Mohammed Umar, Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ola Ibrahim and the Acting Inspector General of Police, Mr. Abubakar Mohammed.

Figures from police and the Red Cross showed on Wednesday that at least 80 people have been killed since Monday in clashes in the two states triggered by Boko Haram, the fundamentalist sect that is waging an insurgency against the government.