President Bola Tinubu on Monday convened an emergency security meeting with service chiefs and intelligence heads at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, hours after insurgents killed a colonel and six soldiers in Borno State.
The meeting was attended by the Chief of Defence Staff, General Olufemi Oluyede, the chiefs of the Army, Navy, and Air Staff, the Directors-General of the Department of State Services and National Intelligence Agency, and the Inspector-General of Police.
Earlier in the afternoon, Tinubu also held a closed-door session with Oluyede and a visiting French General — his first official engagement since returning from Bayelsa on Friday.
A presidency source confirmed the meeting, saying: “The President met the Chief of Defence Staff and a French General. He has always said he will seek collaboration and support from everywhere he can get help, and he is doing that.”
The French general’s name was not disclosed, and no photographs were released from the meeting.
The engagement comes three weeks after Tinubu announced that France had agreed to supply military equipment and training to Nigerian forces fighting insurgency in the North-East, following discussions with French President Emmanuel Macron.
**Colonel, Six Soldiers Killed by IED**
The military confirmed on Monday that troops of Sector 3, Joint Task Force North-East — Operation Hadin Kai — came under a terrorist attack at Charlie 13 location in Monguno in the late hours of Sunday, April 12.
According to the Media Information Officer, Lt. Col. Sanni Uba, the commanding officer was killed by an IED while proceeding to the troops’ location to personally assess the situation after the immediate threat had been neutralised. Six other personnel also died in the attack.
“His willingness to move towards the troops in the heat of the battle, despite the prevailing danger, stands as a profound testament to his valour and unwavering commitment to his men,” Uba said.
The attack is the latest in a series of strikes on military positions across Borno State. Brigadier General O. Braimoh was recently killed in a terrorist ambush at the 29 Joint Taskforce Brigade in Benesheik, Kaga Local Government Area.
**Backdrop of Deepening Security Crisis**
Monday’s security summit also follows a controversial Nigerian Air Force strike on Saturday that killed civilians at Jilli market near the Yobe-Borno border. The military described it as a precision strike on a terrorist logistics hub, but Amnesty International condemned the operation as a “reckless use of deadly force” and demanded an independent investigation.
Presidential spokesman Temitope Ajayi defended the strike, saying the market had been turned into a logistics and trading base by Boko Haram and ISWAP terrorists.
Days earlier, on April 8, the United States elevated 23 Nigerian states to a “Level 4: Do Not Travel” warning — its highest risk category — and authorised the voluntary departure of non-emergency embassy staff from Abuja, citing threats from Islamist insurgents in the North-East, criminal gangs in the North-West, and violence in parts of the South.
Visa appointments at the US Embassy in Abuja have been suspended, though the Lagos consulate remains operational.
The Federal Government pushed back, with Information Minister Mohammed Idris insisting there was “no general breakdown of law and order” across the country.
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