Nigeria's president rebukes security chiefs over worsening violence

By Felix Onuah
ABUJA, June 18 (Reuters) - Nigeria's president criticised
his heads of security on Thursday for their handling of attacks
across the north of the country and said more needs to be done
to resolve the problem, the national security adviser said.
The comments attributed to Muhammadu Buhari are some of his
sharpest criticisms of his security chiefs as the conflict in
the north has steadily worsened through most of his five years
as president.
Security forces in Nigeria, which plays a key role in
maintaining stability in West Africa, have in recent months
contended with deadly attacks by gunmen in the northwest and a
spike in Islamist militants' strikes in the northeast.
"Mr. President has expressed great concern over the
declining security situation in the country," the national
security adviser, Babagana Monguno, told reporters after
Buhari's meeting with the security chiefs.
"He is extremely unhappy about what is happening," said
Monguno, adding: "He feels that, even though the security
agencies are doing their best, their best is not good enough for
him and wants an immediate reversal of the current trend."
Jihadist group Boko Haram had been pushed off most of the
land it controlled early in 2015, months before Buhari took
office.
But the group continued to mount attacks in the northeast,
as well as neighbouring Cameroon, Chad and Niger. A splinter
faction that pledged allegiance to Islamic State in 2016 has
become the dominant force in the region.
Suspected Islamist militants killed at least 60 people on
Sunday in the northeast's Borno state, days after 69 others were
killed in the northeast. Residents in northwestern states have been attacked by
gunmen who loot towns over the last two years. In May the United
Nations said the violence forced 23,000 people to flee to
neighbouring Niger within a few weeks.