Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III said politicians are the main problems of the country. He said the insecurity problem in the country is geared towards the 2015 elections.
“Politicians are the main problems of this country. The insecurity problem in the country is geared towards 2015, nothing more. If there is no election in 2015 and it is in 2030, everything would cool down, everybody is pushing to be at a vantage position to gain electoral might. The whole thing is about political office nothing more, what is painful is that innocent people are being killed every day,” the Sultan said when he hosted journalists to a Ramadan Breakfast on Monday.
On the chibok girls, the Sultan maintained that dialogue was the way to ensure the girls are rescued.
“When you dialogue with someone, you are not losing face,” he stated, adding, “As mighty as America is where they have gone on Taliban and al Qaeda, they have been talking to them. For one American life, American president released five top commanders of Taliban who were in their custody.”
He therefore chided those who said government should not dialogue with the insurgents on the abduction of the Chibok schoolgirls.
“If people say don’t dialogue with those people, I say it is because they are not your daughters. If the girls are our daughters won’t we pay any amount of money to get them released?
According to him, the best thing is to identify the problem and how to stop people killing our people. “We must come together to fight insecurity,” he asserted.
The sultan noted with concern that anywhere a northerner is seen, he is referred to as Boko Haram, describing it as a very dangerous development. He recalled that Usman Danfodiyo never forced people to accept Islam, saying what he did was reformation.
He stressed the need for Nigerians to always fear God in their dealing with others. Sultan Muhammad Abubakar III said as religious leaders, they are doing a lot that should be done. “We keep condemning insurgency but some people say we are not doing enough, what are we supposed to do?”
The royal father noted that security agencies are putting their best in the fight against insurgency and urged them not to relent as according to him, that is the last hope of the common man.
He therefore prayed for an end to insurgency in the country and advised Nigerians to stand up against insecurity in the country.
On the Strike by doctors in the country, he also stressed on dialogue expressing concern that innocent people are dying due to the strike.
“I am always against strike, I have always believe in dialogue, go to the middle course then with compromise give and take, not loss of face,” he said.
Catholic Archbishop of Sokoto, Mathew Kukah , Human Rights Activist Barrister Solomon Dalung,leaders of ethnic nationalities in the state as well as some individuals and groups on peace initiative were all present at the event.
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