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President Muhammadu Buhari is meeting with the service chiefs in Abuja barely 24 hours after senators demanded their removal.

The service chiefs present at the meeting are Gabriel Olonisakin, chief of defence staff; Tukur Buratai, chief of army staff; Sadique Abubakar, chief of air staff; and Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas, chief of naval staff.

Others present at the meeting are Mohammed Adamu, inspector-general of police; Ahmed Rafa’i Abubakar, director-general of the National Intelligence Agency, and Yusuf Bichi, the director-general, Department of State Services (DSS.

On Wednesday, some senators had called for the sack of the service chiefs over the frightening spate of protracted insecurity in Nigeria.

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There have been calls that the service chiefs are all due for retirement, having spent 35 years in service.

Read Also How Abaribe’s call for Buhari’s resignation triggered uproar in Senate

Speaking at the Senate on Wednesday, Elisha Abbo, senator representing Adamawa North, said funding for the military is not the problem but its leadership.

“Going by this budget document from 2012 to 2019, the army has received over N4 trillion, funding is not the problem,” Abbo said.

“The military will tell you their vehicle is spoilt and they cannot move. Mr President should look inwards. Security chiefs have done their best, they should go.”

Also, Binos Yaroe, senator representing Adamawa south, said it appeared the service chiefs were more preoccupied with other tasks than combating insurgency.

“The chief of army staff set up a university in his hometown, the chief of air staff too. Why all these universities? There is a need to effect a change in the leadership of service chiefs,” Yaroe said.

The senate minority leader and member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Enyinnaya Abaribe, had also asked the president to resign over the rising insecurity in the country.

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