Borgu emirate in Niger state requires the sustained presence of security agencies and not deployment of soldiers and rescue teams after attacks by terrorists, a prince of the Borgu kingdom from the Dantoro ruling lineage, Murtala Haliru Dantoro, has said.
He said at a press briefing in Minna, Tuesday: “I want to be very clear about what we are asking for, because there is a difference between the two. We are not asking to be rescued after the attack. We are asking for security before the attacks.
“We do not want soldiers and rescue teams arriving after our people have already been killed or taken. We want a permanent, deliberate, and sustained security presence that prevents these attacks from happening in the first place.”
He stated that it has become more expedient for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to approve permanent presence of security in the Borgu emirate due to frequent attacks and killings which has almost become daily routine.
“We are under siege. Our farmers cannot go to their farms in peace. Our women and children are not safe on the roads, they have travelled for generations. Kidnapping has become common in places where it was once unheard of while killings that should shock a nation have painfully become a routine. Borgu Emirate is not asking for charity. We are asking for what is owed to every Nigerian community – the safety of our land and our lives,” he said.
Dantoro said the alarming rate of insecurity in the kingdom has triggered mass migration of rural communities to Benin Republic as families relocate to areas they consider save.
