I thank you for your letter Reference NASS/8S/R/01 /33 dated 18 th January, 2018 and I
have carefully studied the resolutions and comments contained therein.
2. As I briefed you and the Rt. Hon. Speaker when we met on the 14 th January, 2018, several
courses of action had already been taken prior to the Senate Resolutions. You may recall that
I told you of the following steps taken as soon as information came to me about the Benue
killings.
On Thursday 4 th January, I sent the Minister of Interior and the Deputy Inspector
General of Police in charge of Operations for an on the spot assessment of the
situation.
On Friday, 5 th January, the Inspector General of Police briefed me verbally on the
latest situation. Calm had by then been restored.
(iii) On Monday 8 th the Minister of Interior met with the following:
Governors of Adamawa, Kaduna, Niger, Taraba, Benue and Nasarawa
States together with
Director General of the State Security Services (DG SSS)
Inspector General of Police
Commandant General, Civil Defence
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development
Commissioners of Police from the six aforementioned states
Comptrollers of Civil Defence from the six aforementioned states.
3. After the meeting I instructed the Minister of lnterior to brief you on the information gathered so far and
steps taken. On Tuesday 9 th January, I had a long session with Governor Ortom of Benue State
during which I informed him of police arrest of some suspects with Kalashnikovs.
In addition, I told him that I had instructed the IGP to speed up trial and prosecution of the suspects and
give wide publicity to the police efforts.
4. At the request of the Governor a meeting was held in the Presidential Villa on 15 th January, with a wide –
cross – section of Benue personages where frank and open discussions were held
and everybody in the meeting appreciated the complexity and difficulties of
this farmer/herder strife. I assured all and sundry of my commitment to ensure that justice is expeditiously
done.
5. To infer, therefore that nothing has been done is incorrect. The police are strenuously
working to apprehend the rest of the culprits of these heartless killings. Furthermore, I have
instructed the Inspector General of Police to relocate to Benue State, redeploy forces to the most sensitive
areas. The Federal Government is initiating additional measures to address
these and other security challenges, alleviate the consequences of
these attacks and forestall reoccurrence. The Senate Resolutions itemised in your letter will
be taken into consideration and I am instructing all relevant MDAs to factor them in their work.
6. Earlier, on December 19 th 2017 to be precise, while receiving the Report of the Committee which I had set
up to review the operational, technical and administrative structure of the National intelligence Agency (NIA),
I underscored the need to review the entire national security architecture – as I promised in my inaugural
Address on 29 th May, 2015. Action is being initiated and I expect to receive maximum cooperation from the
Senate, in line with paragraph (iii) of the Senate Resolutions.
7. Please accept, Mr. Senate President, the assurances of my highest regards.
Muhammadu Buhari
