Insurgency, Banditry in Nigeria: We are fed up, says Sultan

Peeved with violent extremism and insurgency, the Sultan of Sokoto and Co-Chairman of National Council of Traditional Rulers, Sa’ad Abubakar, says they are fed up as insecurity is getting worse in the country.

“But we see things getting worse and worse. It used to be Boko Haram alone in Borno and Yobe, now, in all over the north in particular and generally all over the country.

“You have bandits and terrorists all over the north, you can’t even move freely. In the south, it is the same thing.

“The killings have taken new dimensions and we really don’t know what are the causes of these mass killings of innocent people,” he said.

Sultan had led monarchs to Maiduguri to condole with the government and people of Borno State on the recent killing of farmers by Boko Haram at a rice field in Zabarmari.

“It is not just a condolence visit, it is a statement that all of us are fed up with the shedding of innocent blood under 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.

“We had various fora with our political leaders, mentioned these things out, how to take care of our security in various communities. We have written papers, sent our governors, we have discussed with all our leaders, all the way forward,” Sultan also said.

He suggested to the military that its men and officers should occupy Sambisa Forest and Lake Chad region housing Boko Haram insurgents.

He declared: “We decided to come together as the council of traditional rulers to make this statement to all and sundry, not only to the governor of Borno State, but to all our governors.

“Let’s rise up to the occasion and see how we can come together to fight this menace of shedding innocent people’s blood.”

The governor, Prof. Babagana Zulum thanked the traditional rulers for their visit.

He lamented the state’s dependence on donations to feed internally displaced persons.