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| Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III |
Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III has caution
Nigerians to stop mistaking the killers herdsmen as Muslims, this, as he
urged Federal Government to deal with them if arrested.
The Sultan, who is also the president general of Jaama’tu Nasril Islam
(JNI) further said that Nigerians should “stop taking the devilish act
of the killers herdsmen as acting the script of the Fulani community or
Muslim community in Nigeria” and added that there are few bad eggs in
the Fulani clan.
The traditional and Islamic leader said this, yesterday, in Kaduna, at
the opening ceremony of the 2-Day Annual Pan-Northern Groups Summit on
Security, Socio-economic and political development.
Daily Sun quoted Sultan as saying that clashes between farmers and
herdsmen are purely economic clashes and not ethno-religious as
speculated in some quarters.
“There are very terrible herdsmen who kill.
“But, they are acting on their own; they are criminals and they must be treated as criminals.
“Therefore, the Federal Government should prosecute them. “It is
disheartening to hear when people say Fulani herdsmen want to Islamize
Nigeria and that is why they are killing.
“Any Fulani herdsman who kills is not acting the script of the Fulani
community in Nigeria, neither is he working for the Muslim community,”
he said.
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Speaking on the state of Northern Nigeria, the Sultan said “unity of the
North is non-negotiable if the region must develop and have a common
front.”
He added that, the North of today was not the North that Sardauna of
Sokoto, Sir Ahmadu Bello left behind. He also acknowleged there is
ethnic awareness among northerners now, than ever before.
“There is more ethnic awareness now than ever before. The question is why the sudden consciousness in ethnicity and religion?
“I will not attempt to provide answer to this question, but, we must,
therefore, strive to re-unite the North. Only then, we can have a common
front and build a united and cohesive North.”
