*** As Foreign Affairs Minister clears on relations with US
By Harry Awurumibe, Editor Abuja Bureau
Nigeria’s top security chief, the National Security Adviser (NSA), Major General Babagana Monguno (rtd) has berated the foreign missions in Nigeria for creating an unnecessary security panic in the country by their unsolicited “terror alerts” over the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Addressing State House Correspondents immediately after an Emergency National Security Council meeting summoned President Muhammadu Buhari at State House, Abuja on Monday, Monguno argued that neither the FCT nor any city in Nigeria is under any terror threat.
According to him: “From the time this alarm story came out until now, about a week to ten days, we can see that so far, the situation has been brought under control.
“The issue of Nigerians being made to panic is unnecessary, the situation in various areas, the federal capital territory, the situation has been brought under control and we are trying as much as possible to work with our neighbours and within the domestic situation to work with our foreign partners in a responsible way without giving the impression that Nigeria is stetting on thin ice to explored.
“That has come to dispel any illusion about any sense of heightened insecurity. It is false, it is irresponsible for anybody to give that signal. We are working with our foreign partners in a responsible way and Nigerians should go back to their normal daily undertakings without being put in a situation of fear.”
Asked if arrest have been made since the terror alert has been raised, Monguno said:
“Yes. You wanted some clarification on the arrests that are referred to Yes, arrests have been made, you must remember that Nigeria has been engaged in at least the asymmetric conflicts, for quite a number of years. And the arrest I’m talking about are not necessarily in relation to the alerts that were issued by the US Embassy. These are in relation basically to ongoing operations being conducted by the Nigerian armed forces, intelligence and security agencies.
I mentioned that just to allay the fears that these people, these organizations have continuously been on the toes that continuously engaged other entities, other groups, and this has resulted in arrest.
Meanwhile, the US Mission in Nigeria has told the Foreign Affairs Minister, Geofrey Onyeama that it’s within their constitutional rights to regularly issue travel advisories to its citizens across the world.
Said Onyeama: “Nigeria has been engaging the United States (US) on intelligent sharing, ” It’s been the norm for US to make such pronouncement. We engage the US from this, and their response was that they are obliged to put out those kinds of statements, normally travel advisories, but in this case, it was an alert but they said that they were obliged to, for their citizens, and that the advice, you know, the alert was really, for their citizens, that they do it around the world, as you know, they did it also in South Africa, in this particular case”.
The Minister however said that the Nigeria authorities are used to the US travel advisories, pointing out that as the Director General (DG) of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) had drawn that distinction between the two.
Said he; “And so they said for them, it’s a constitutional issue”. And, of course, on our side, coming to the next question from Arise about coordination, and how, but this also, I think, answers the first question, the second question.
“We want to ordinarily coordinate with them, because as you can see, a lot of panic has been stretch. So you have to look at the purpose of this kind of announcement. And then you also have to look at intelligence sharing, and, you know, the best use of you can make of you know, shared intelligence, you know, and strike that balance.
“So the coordination we are talking about, is, is about messaging, you know, how you get the message across the narratives that we put out there. And, and, and also, while at the same time, you know, reassuring other foreigners and so forth, of the steps that are being taken by security services, and so forth.
“So in other words, the coordination we look at, we look at it, as you should all be on the safe side, these are our partners, we should all be working together to address common threats and common challenges. And to do that effectively. And I think going back to that first question, you know, you don’t want to take each other by surprise, because then we begin to defeat the purpose of the whole exercise.
“You third question was about which foreign partners, we will work with all the foreign partners, all the missions that are represented here in Nigeria to start with, because we as a country, have the prime responsibility to safeguard the diplomats who are residing in our country, and to ensure their security.
“And so so we have to engage with all these foreign partners. And also, with the security threats that we face as a country, we have a lot of partners that are working with us to address those security challenges, you know, right across the country. So we so it’s really all friends, essentially, that we are working with all our foreign partners, in this case”.
Speaking on the issue of British Airways, Onyeama said: “my understanding, actually, is that, those flights were not because of their alerts, that that particular flight was not diverted labels are canceled, because we’re not really having done before. But rather it has to do with as you know, the ongoing issue with foreign airlines. So it’s in that context and not in the context of security.
” And that, to my knowledge to understand this is the case. And of course, then the fifth question was, what kind of cooperation are we talking about? With us, as you know, the US is a partner in the fight against terrorism. And so our cooperation with US is it’s very comprehensive, and very cross cutting. So it’s all kinds of it’s really is comprehensive cooperation with with us and, and it’s in US cooperation that we that we value, and that we will and that we should present, continue to, to promote.
“On Engagement, specifically I think, sort of answer that level of engagement is across the board, you know, might help from, you know, sharing intelligence, when good or bad, and the emphasis that we should put in different areas. But ultimately, as I said, The it’s also important not to create panic within the country, as I mentioned earlier, that’s the message. So for us to work together not to seek the purpose of what we’re trying to achieve, which is for security for our country, and for all of us to work towards, with our partners, and with ourselves and not to work across purposes.
“And of course, creating panic in our country will have all kinds of multiplier effects, you know, and especially, if we feel that intelligence does not also warrant that”.
