Sultan to Nigerians: stop blame game, unite against terrorists, other criminals

• CAN boss tasks security agencies to learn from US

Sultan of Sokoto Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III yesterday advised Nigerians to desist from the blame game and unite against terrorists, bandits, and other criminal elements in the country.

Alhaji Abubakar, who lamented the rising insecurity in the country urged Muslims to stop accusing Christians of promoting killings in the North.

He also called on Christians to disregard the recent threat by unknown persons to kill anyone found in churches in Zamfara State.

At the fourth quarterly meeting of Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC) in Abuja where the Sultan spoke, Christian Association of Nigeria President Samson Ayokunle urged security agencies to learn from the United States, strategies for tackling insecurity.

The meeting with the theme: ”NIREC, security agencies and peace in Nigeria” was also attended by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Boss Mustapha and a former Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Martin Luther Agwai.

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The monarch expressed displeasure over the killings and kidnappings in the country and enjoined Muslims, Christians, and adherents of other religions to stop the blame game.

He said: “The blame game has to stop so that we can work in unity to overcome” those he described as “our common enemies. If I continue talking about the insecurity in the North, we will not leave this room. A few days ago, we read media reports on how people were killed in a bus in Sokoto. There is no single day that passes without people being killed in the North especially in the Northwest.

“When I saw a note that the bandits are threatening Christians in Zamfara, I asked what is the work of our security agencies?

“I will not stop going to the mosque to pray because I saw in a paper that if I go to the mosque I will be killed, let me be killed, I must die, so Christians should not be afraid of going to church to worship because an anonymous person is threatening them.”

The Sultan said since Nigeria has many challenges, it “behoves on leaders to wake up and come together to understand and tackle them.”

The Sultan added: ”Let’s not deceive ourselves, everything is not alright. I have said this so many times. Knowing that you have a problem makes it easy for you to solve it. The earlier we rise up to the occasion together, the better for us,”

He charged religious leaders to be wary of the kind of things they say to their followers who believe that they rely on the Bible and Koran.

While advocating dialogue to address some of the challenges in the country, Sultan Abubakar said the elite are the major problems of the nation.

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“I believe dialogue is the best option. We must come up with possible solutions to our problems. The elite are the problems of this country because they always want things to go our way,” he added.

Rev. Ayokunle recalled the way and manner the US rescued its abducted citizen in Nigeria from Boko Haram and advised security agencies to learn from that operation.

He wondered why persons would be kidnapped and the security could not trace them and their abductors through intelligence.

The CAN boss said he was particularly worried that Nigerian roads “have become a den of kidnappers and a no-go-area for travellers”

He said:”Travelling from one point to another by road, in particular, has become a very great risk, kidnappers are everywhere and they don’t only come out to kidnap but also to kill, so you don’t know who the next victim is going to be.

“Why should these people be killing and hiding people in our territory without being challenged, why should it be easy for them to hide people somewhere within the state and the security agencies in the state within a few days or weeks will not be able to fish them out?”

Ayokunle, therefore, called for an increase in intelligence gathering, and on the public to volunteer information to the security agencies.

The Nation