By Adesoba Toluwalope
The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, has raised alarm for the unsafe situations caused by bandits in the North, most especially in Sokoto State.
The religious and traditional leader raised the alarm at the fourth quarterly meeting of the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC) on Thursday. He stated that North is often ignored and undeserving of the Media’s attention because it’s the North.
According to him, the North is not safe as people rumor it to be. Infact, he described the North as one of the worst place to be in the country. Villagers are scared to go out, markets are being looted freely by gunmen, who walk freely like it’s their home.
He said, “Security situation in Northern Nigeria has assumed a worrisome situation. It is regrettable that no strong media platform could report this story to the world.
“A few weeks ago, over 76 persons were killed in a community in Sokoto in a day. I was alongside the governor to commiserate with the affected community
“Unfortunately, you didn’t hear these stories in the media because it’s the North. We have accepted the fact that the North doesn’t have strong media to report the atrocities of the bandits.
“People think North is safe, but that assumption is not true. Infact, it’s the worst place to be in the country. Because bandits go round the villages, households, and market with their AK 47. They stop at the market, buy things, pay and collect change, with their weapons openly displayed. These are facts I know because I am the centre of it.
“I am not only a traditional ruler, but i am also a religious leader, so i am in a better place to tell the story. I can speak for the North in regard of the security challenges there. We have to sincerely and seriously find solutions to the problem. Otherwise, we will find ourselves soon, in a situation where we would lose sleep because of insecurity.
“As religious leaders, we must promote peace, love, unity, and tolerance among our followers. We will discuss all these issues at the close door session of the meeting and possibly come out with strong suggestions for government.”
Contributing to the matters on security, the President of Christian Association Nigeria (CAN), Dr Samson Ayokunle Olasupo, blamed the government of the hiked price of petrol and electricity.
He said, “That’s not what we send them to do for us. The decision, evidently has added to our pains and they should reverse it as quickly as possible.”
In his statement, he also talked on the ENDSARS protest about how he thought the protest was not for a good cause but later found out it is and how ethnicity or religion should not be brought into it.
“But attributing the actions of the angry youths to a particular religion or ethnic group is insincere and unsafe. No religion group was exempted from the effect of the protest. The action was a spontaneous action that cannot be attributed to any religion or ethnic group,” the CAN President said.
