The Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar who is also the chairman National Council of Traditional Rulers has led his colleagues from south, west and northern part of the country to meet Governor Babagana Umara Zulum in Maiduguri.
The delegation has the Oba Adekunle Adebayo, Ore of Otin, Emir of Hadeja, Dr. Adamu Abubakar Maje, Emir of Fika, Mohammed Abale Ibn Mohammed Idrissa, Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Nnaemaka Alfred Ugochukwu, Amanyanabo of Opobo Kingdom, King Dr. Dandasen Douglas Jaja, who all came to condole the government and people of Borno on the recent killing in Zabarmari.
Sultan Abubakar said they were in Maiduguri not only to commiserate with the Governor but to make a strong statement with regards insecurity in Nigeria which has affected the entire nation.
“This afternoon we are at the seat of power of Borno State, in front of the Governor on this special visit, I said special because this is the first time the national council of traditional rulers of Nigeria has ventured out to any state or any town specifically to discuss or talk about the happenings in that particular place as regards to insecurity and mass killing of innocent people”.
“The National Council of Traditional Rulers in Nigeria deem it fit to put a small team to come round to Borno State, Maiduguri in particular to make this very strong statement,” he said.
“It is not just a condolence visit, it is a statement that all of us are fed up with the shading of innocent bloods in whatever guise across this country. So many lives have been lost in the past, we can’t even compute how many lives we have lost. It becomes like a daily occurrence, a daily event. A new normal, it becomes a story when in a day nobody was killed in a particular place of this country.”
The Shehu of Borno Muhammad al-Amin al-kanemi while speaking said the traditional rulers would give maximum cooperation to security agencies in the fight against insurgency.
The Shehu also called on the people of Borno to continue to provide credible intelligence reports to the military explaining that the fight against insurgency is a collective responsibility.
Governor Zulum thanked the royal fathers for the special visit.
Commenting on the impact of the insurgency, the governor decried the continous dependance on donations to feed IDPs as the main source of livelihood for them were dwindling.
The Governor said, to address the cause of the insecurity, there was need to provide sources of livlilhood to the IDPs and those resettled in rebuilt communities.
Lateefah Ibrahim
