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Afric TV24 - Update
The Sultan of Sokoto and president-general, Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, NSCIA, Alhaji Abubakar Sa’ad III, has decried the worrisome level of insecurity in the country, saying that there is the need to accord constitutional role to royal fathers on the grounds that they know everybody within their domain.
Afric TV24 - Update
The Sultan of Sokoto and president-general, Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, NSCIA, Alhaji Abubakar Sa’ad III, has decried the worrisome level of insecurity in the country, saying that there is the need to accord constitutional role to royal fathers on the grounds that they know everybody within their domain.
The Sultan, who is also the chairman, Sokoto State chapter of the Alumni Association of the National Institute (ANNI), stated this yesterday in Sokoto during a one-day workshop at the Sultan Maccido Institute of Qu’ranic and General Studies, Sokoto. The event was organised by the state chapter of ANNI.
The royal father added that half of the nation’s insecurity problem will be solved if the traditional institution is accorded its rightful place in the society and warned all those who are behind the insecurity to kindly embrace the federal government’s olive branch.
The Sultan said, “We as traditional leaders must understand that we are in charge of developments within our domain. However, we are almost handicapped now because absolute control of our respective traditional institutions has been collected from us, rendering us powerless, leading to our inability to adequately control happenings within our domain.
“It should be noted that if the traditional institutions are all right, then more than half of our problems is solved because they know every parent within their domain. Therefore, if the needed recognition and support is given to this traditional institution, they will ensure that their domain remained crime-free and if they failed they should then take responsibility.
“No stranger or friend will come to your child’s house and you will not know about it as a responsible parent. And no parent that stays within your domain that you will not know as traditional leader because you are the closest to the people.
“Though security challenge is global and not restricted to Nigeria alone, but our concern is that concerted effort should be made to find a lasting solution to it, part of which is federal government committee on insecurity. “
Delivering his keynote address at the workshop entitled “Seminar on Security Awareness for Traditional Leaders in Sokoto”, the national president of the institution, Gen. Lawrence Onoja, admonished other states of the north to emulate Sokoto in the areas of peaceful coexistence.
Onoja, who attributed the insecurity situation in Nigeria to scorching and pervasive ignorance, also advised that more proactive measures be taken to avoid spillover capable of consuming all of us.
The AANI national president further advised President Goodluck Jonathan to draw from the findings of previous panels in Nigeria towards finding a lasting solution to the nation’s security challenges, just as he maintained that politicians and porous borders are largely responsible for the security challenges in Nigeria.
Bama and Damboa attacks are ungodly, heinous - Sultan
Meanwhile, Jama’atuNasril Islam (JNI) under the leadership of His Eminence Alhaji Muhammad Sa’adAbubakar, the Sultan of Sokoto, has condemned the cruel and merciless attacks on innocent persons at Bama and Damboa local government areas of Borno State.
The Sultan, in a statement signed by JNI’s secretary-general, Dr Khalid Abubakar Aliyu, in Ibadan yesterday also condemned last’s Saturday night attack said to have been carried out near Maiduguri, Borno State, which resulted in the loss of many lives.
Similarly, he described the the brutal and gruesome killings of Dr Musa Muhammad Dambam, medical director, Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Azare, and the district head of Yame, in Bauchi State, last Sunday as ungodly, heinous acts and utterly reprehensible.
While calling for calm and restraint, he said “as it has always been our prayers, that whatsoever is the motive of the devilish criminals reported to be dressed in military mufti (Monguno and Yame attacks), they will never see the light of day insha’Allah”.
The Sultan who lamented this sorry state of affairs in the strongest terms said the nation seems to be gradually sliding into lawlessness, leading to quantum losses of lives, on a frequent basis, especially in Borno State, despite many efforts to nip the situation in the bud.
He advised the security agencies in Borno State to supplement firmness with “measures that are sufficiently seen to be just and humane to earn the people’s trust, support and cooperation to enable them overcome criminal elements, causing nightmares on innocent citizenries”.
“These repeated acts call for concerted introspection, as they again point to the fact that there is the urgent need for proactive and effective ways to addressing these precarious security upheavals as being witnessed in the country,” he said.
The Sultan condoled with the government and good people of Borno and Bauchi states as well as to their royal highnesses, the Shehu of Borno and Bama, over the unfortunate recurring attacks in Bama, Damboa, and Maiduguri in Borno State.
He also commiserated with the families of the victims of those callous attacks and condoled with the parents and guardians who lost their wards in the misfortune.
