The Sultan of Sokoto and President General of the Jamaatu Nasril Islam, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar lll, has said, bandits now go to homes to kidnap people in the north.
Abubakar, who is leader of Muslims in Nigeria, said this at the 4th quarter 2020 meeting of the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council in Abuja, on Thursday.
He lamented the surge in insecurity in the country, while calling the government to wake up to their responsibilities of protecting the lives and property of Nigerians.
“How much an onion costs in Nigeria today is an insight into the current economic hardship in the country,” he said.
“We do not lack recommendations and solutions to our problems. What we lack is the sense of purpose.”
He added that, “Security situation in northern Nigeria has assumed a worrisome situation, regretting that no strong media platform could report the story to the world. Few weeks ago, over 76 persons were killed in a community in Sokoto in a day. I was there alongside the governor to commiserate with the affected community. Unfortunately, you don’t hear these stories in the media because it’s in the north. We have accepted the fact that north doesn’t have strong media to report the atrocities of these bandits.
“People think north is safe but that assumption is not true. In fact, it’s the worst place to be in this country. Because bandits go around in the villages, households and markets with their AK 47 and nobody is changing them. They stop at the market, buy things, pay and collect change, with their weapons openly displayed. These are facts I know because I am at the centre of it.
“I am not only a traditional ruler; I am also a religious leader. So, I am in a better place to tell the story. I can speak for the north in this regard because I am fully aware 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.”
