President Bola Tinubu on Thursday evening convened a high-level security meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, bringing together the country’s top military commanders, intelligence chiefs and senior security advisers to review Nigeria’s worsening security situation.
Sources familiar with the meeting told NewsOnline that the closed-door session focused on assessing security challenges across the country’s various theatres of operation and evaluating ongoing military responses to emerging threats.
The meeting, which lasted for more than two hours, was disclosed by the State House through photographs released on Thursday evening.
Among those in attendance were the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu; the Minister of Defence, Mohammed Badaru Abubakar; the Chief of Defence Staff, General Olufemi Oluyede; the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Olufemi Oluyede; the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla; the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Hassan Abubakar; the Chief of Defence Intelligence, Lieutenant General Emmanuel Undiandeye; the Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Adeola Ajayi; the Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Mohammed Mohammed; the Inspector-General of Police, Olatunde Disu; and the President’s Special Adviser on Homeland Security, Major General Adeyinka Famadewa (retd.), alongside other senior security officials.
The emergency security review comes amid renewed military operations against terrorists and bandits across several parts of the country.
Only two days earlier, troops of Operation FANSAN YAMMA, supported by the Air Component of the Joint Task Force (North West), foiled what the military described as a major terrorist offensive in Zamfara and Katsina states.
According to the military, Nigerian Air Force fighter aircraft on July 7 tracked a convoy of about 300 heavily armed terrorists travelling on motorcycles from the Sunke-Kumbo axis toward Gummi before launching precision airstrikes that disrupted the planned attack.
In a separate operation, troops reportedly neutralised Alhaji Tukur, identified as a notorious bandit commander and younger brother of wanted kingpin Alhaji Shehu Bagiwaye, during an operation in Dogon Kade.
In the North-East, troops of Operation Hadin Kai also repelled a fresh attack on the Mairari military base on July 1, following a series of coordinated assaults by suspected ISWAP fighters targeting military formations.
Security analysts have described the attacks as part of an effort by insurgents to overrun forward operating bases and weaken the operational capacity of the Nigerian military.
Military records indicate that at least 13 attacks on military bases have been recorded in 2026, with the majority occurring in Borno State.
As of the time of filing this report, the Presidency had not released an official statement detailing the outcome or resolutions reached at Thursday’s security meeting.
At a similar meeting held in March, Defence Minister Mohammed Badaru Abubakar had assured Nigerians that security forces were making significant gains against terrorists and bandits.
He said the military had continued to eliminate terrorist commanders and insisted that the armed forces remained confident of securing victory over criminal elements.
