BY JIMOH BABATUNDE

LAGOS – National Security Adviser, General Andrew Azazi, (rtd), yesterday, denied saying that  terrorism had come to stay in the country.

Speaking with airport correspondents  at the Presidential Wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, Azazi said that the challenge of terrorism was novel in the country and Nigerians should realise the danger it poses for the country, just as he urged those perpetrating the act to desist from it.

He said what he meant was that Nigerians irrespective of their position should device how to tackle the new challenge, adding that the security outfits were caught unawares by the new dimension introduced by the Boko Haram sect.

He said: “That was not actually what I meant. There are some challenges we have to come to agree to in Nigeria. People should try and understand that this is a new challenge that is confronting us as a nation and we must know how to tackle it.”

It will be recalled that newspapers reported on Wednesday that Azazi said that the nation’s security outfits were caught unawares by the new dimension introduced by Boko Haram sect, declaring that terrorism had come to stay.

He was said to have attributed the inability of the government to arrest rising spate of terrorist acts to lack of preparedness on the part of security operatives, despite the fact that the activities of the sect started in Nigeria over 15 years ago.

He warned that unless adequate arrangements were put in place in terms of training and retraining of security operatives on modern security management that is technology based, and provision of modern equipment, there might not be an end to the growing insecurity across the country, saying that “terrorism has come to stay.”