Insecurity: Chad Basin Commission may establish traditional rulers forum

By Usman Abubakar, Maiduguri

The four Lake Chad basin countries may soon establish a forum of traditional rulers of communities troubled by terror around the basin as a potent weapon in the enduring war against the menace.

The forum is to serve as a platform for the royal fathers to deepen crossborder consultation among themselves on various issues affecting the region as well as observing suspicious persons and movements to nip any emerging insecurity in the bud.

Representatives of the traditional rulers from the four countries converged on Maiduguri for a two-day deliberations preluding the 5th Lake Chad Basin Governors Forum organized by the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) and slated for January 29 to 31.

The Governors Forum meeting, to be hosted by Nigeria’s Yobe State, is, consequently, to be chaired by Yobe’s Governor Mai Mala Buni.

At their two-day meeting, which opened, Monday, January 27, the royal fathers are to craft recommendations they are to present at the Governors’ Forum which will extend same to the governments of the four LCBC member countries to galvanize the support of the governments and all other critical stakeholders in the Basin’s affairs.

“We are trying to have a forum that will unite us to be consulting each other and discussing the insecurity bedeviling the region and other issues,” Emir of Fika and Chairman of the Yobe State Council of Traditional Rulers, Dr. Muhammadu Ibn Abali Idrissa, told newsmen.

“We are very desirous of strengthening amity among us to help each other in checking suspicious activities in our respective communities and such other things as proliferation of small arms across our communities,” the Yobe monarch butterflies explained further.

“we are happy to be part of the Governors meeting to deliberate on the various issues affecting the region, combating insecurity and restoring order and development,” he said.