President Bola Tinubu is currently holding an emergency security meeting at the State House, Abuja, as top military and intelligence officials review recent developments affecting national security, with the meeting having begun at about 2:00 pm on Monday . The closed-door session has brought together the Chief of Defence Staff, General Olufemi Oluyede; the Chiefs of the Army, Navy and Air Staff; the Director-General of the Department of State Services, Oluwatosin Ajayi; the Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency, Ambassador Mohammed Mohammed; and the Inspector-General of Police, Tunji Disu . The National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, is also in attendance . The meeting comes just days after a United States State Department advisory flagged worsening security conditions in Nigeria, warning citizens and diplomatic staff of safety risks .
The US advisory, issued on April 8, authorised the voluntary departure of non-emergency government personnel and their families from its embassy in Abuja, while also placing 23 of Nigeria’s 36 states under a “Level 4: Do Not Travel” classification, including new additions Plateau, Jigawa, Kwara, Niger, and Taraba states . The Nigerian government has pushed back strongly against the warning, with the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, insisting that “there is no general breakdown of law and order and the vast majority of the country remains stable” . He noted that ongoing security operations across various regions have continued to yield results, driven by coordinated military action, intelligence-led interventions and improved inter-agency collaboration .
The emergency meeting also comes amid a wave of deadly attacks across northern Nigeria, including the killing of Colonel I.A. Mohammed and at least 10 soldiers in a Boko Haram IED ambush in Monguno, Borno State, just days after Brigadier General Oseni Braimah was killed in another attack . Attention has also shifted to a Nigerian Air Force operation in Borno State, where a strike in Jilli Market along the Yobe border reportedly caused civilian casualties while targeting suspected Boko Haram positions, with the Air Force confirming “precision mop-up” on terrorist sites but skipping civilian casualty claims . The Presidency defended the strike, with Senior Special Assistant Tope Ajayi telling Bloomberg that the market had “morphed into an insurgent logistics hub, making it a legitimate target” .
Security challenges continue to stretch across the country, with insurgency in the North-East, bandit attacks in the North-West and North-Central, and separatist-linked violence in the South-East placing sustained pressure on Nigeria’s security architecture . The meeting’s agenda is expected to cover the US travel advisory, the recent spate of military casualties, and the Jilli Market airstrike, among other pressing security concerns. As Tinubu gathers his top security chiefs behind closed doors, Nigerians are watching to see whether the meeting will produce concrete action or merely another round of reassurances that the government is “on top of the situation.”
