The Sultan of Sokoto and President-General, Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, has berated the way the Federal Government is handling the spate of insecurity in the country just as he urged President Muhammadu Buhari to convene a national dialogue as a means to resolve the crisis.
The Sultan noted that unknown gunmen are taking the lives of Nigerians on daily basis and wondered by security agent have not been able to demystify these criminal elements.
He questioned the capacity of the security forces on intelligence gathering, saying the security apparatus should be able to pre-empt the series of attacks that have been witnessed in the country.
“How can people, who do these things, be unknown? Where are our intelligence agencies? Don’t we have a proactive intelligence agency that will think ahead of the bandits?
“In eastern Sokoto alone, there was a day we buried 76 persons, who were killed in cold blood by criminals who came from ‘nowhere. There was another day we buried 48 persons in the same Sokoto, but you didn’t hear about it.
“All the people committing such atrocities must be identified. The security agencies must up their game, find them and take action on this kind of carnage. If we start doing so, all this carnage we see in this country will stop.”
The Sultan called on the President to convene and chair a national dialogue on the challenges facing the country with a view to designing lasting ways to solve them.
He stated, “What is so difficult in the Presidency leading a national dialogue? Why are we afraid of talking to one another in a dialogue? What dialogue cannot solve, violence cannot solve it either.
“So, I think it’s high time we put aside ethnic and religious sentiments and told ourselves the truth that what is happening in this country is not right. This is the way we should go if we really want to have a country. The President should lead the way in this.”
The Sultan of Sokoto called on the Federal Government to identify and deal decisively with those inciting individuals and groups against the peace and security of the country.
He issued the warning against the backdrop of a viral video by a popular Islamic cleric in Zaria, who vowed that there would be reprisals over the recent killing of 22 travelers in Jos, Plateau State, along ethnic and religious lines.
“What are our security agencies doing that they cannot invite those making these videos and saying nasty and bad things that raise tensions higher? Nobody should be above the law, whether you are a Christian or Muslim. You cannot incite people to kill innocent people,” the monarch said.
While lamenting the level of insecurity in the land, Abubakar said it had become a worrisome situation that the security agencies were unable to demystify the so-called “unknown gunmen,” who raid communities and institutions, kill unarmed citizens and abduct scores of people unchallenged.
