The National Security Adviser (NSA) says he was not aware about the presidential directive on the deployment of 6,000 soldiers to Zamfara State to fight bandits.
Governor of Zamfara state Bello Matawalle had on Tuesday said President Muhammadu Buhari ordered the deployment of 6,000 soldiers to the state.
He said the president gave the directive when he visited him at the Presidential Villa to brief him on the security situation in the state.
But the NSA, during an interview with the BBC Hausa on Friday, said he was not aware of such a directive by the president.
“He spoke directly to Mr. President. I am not there, maybe it is true but I don’t know,” he said.
The office of the NSA (formally called Assistant to President on National Security Affairs) in the United States of America, whose presidential system the Nigerian presidential system is modeled after, coordinates defense, foreign affairs, international economic policy, and intelligence.
This job description reflects the recognition that national security extends beyond military security and encompasses foreign affairs, international economic policy, and increasingly technological policy.
This is not the first time Monguno will claim ignorance of the issue of national security which his office is statutorily supposed to be aware of.
21st Century Chronicle recalled that in February 2020, Monguno in a memo that was leaked to the public, accused the late Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari, of undue and dangerous interference on matters bordering on national security.
He accused Kyari of issuing directives to service chiefs without knowledge of the president, a practice he claimed added to the government’s inability to contain insecurity.
He later fired a warning memo to all service chiefs to desist from taking further directives from Kyari.
In 2016, Mr Monguno became locked in a fierce rift with Lawal Daura, a former director-general of the State Security Service (SSS).
Structurally, Daura was a subordinate to Monguno in his capacity as the overall coordinator of national security, yet for several years, the duo rarely interacted with one another. The battle lasted until Daura was dismissed from office in August 2018.
