To stave off alleged incessant attacks on Nigerian villa gers by communities from Benin Republic, Nigeria’s upper legislative chamber, the Senate, has asked the government to deploy troops to the country’s border with its western neighbour.
The MPs made the request, which also includes the deployment of Immigration and Customs officials, through a motion it adopted on Thursday.
The motion, sponsored by Senator Umaru Tafida and 18 other senators, sought to draw the attention of the Senate to what they called “cross-border incursions into and displacement of Nigerian villages by Benin communities and the attendant consequences to the peaceful co-existence in the ECOWAS sub-region.”
The Senate also directed its Committees on Defence; Security and National Intelligence as well as Foreign Affairs to investigate the remote causes of cross-border incursions by Benin communities, while urging the Nationa l Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to come to the aid of the displaced persons and victims of a recent attack on Tungar-Kungi village in northern Kebbi State.
“The attack was carried out by over 2,000 people mobilised from five Benin villages and master-minded at Madikali village in Benin Republic. The sordid attack razed the entire Tungar-Kungi village to the ground, leaving behind a pit iful situation of 1,500 displaced victims, most of them women and children who sought refuge at a four-classroom primary school at Lolo town with no facili ties to cater for them,” Tafida said.