If We Abuse Police, Soldiers, It Will Not Augur Well For Us - Sultan Of Sokoto

The Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, has urged Nigerians to desist from "abusing" the police, the army, and security agencies because it will "not augur well for us".

The sultan said this at the 4th Quarter Meeting of the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC), in Abuja on Thursday.

He touched on issues affecting the North and the country in general, emphasising the problem of insecurity and the cost of living in the region.

He described the North as the "worst place to be" in Nigeria because of persistent banditry and attacks on villagers.

Security Agencies

Abubakar III appealed to Nigerians to be law-abiding, reminding of the need to have a continuous presence of the officers of the police force to fight the issue of insecurity.

“We must obey all laws, if we are not law-abiding. We have heard people calling for the scrapping of SARS, the President has done that and we later said, bring police back. We cannot do without the Police; we cannot do without our security agencies. No matter bad the security agencies are, there are still excellent officers.

“What we need to do is to fish out the bad elements from the security agencies and to reform the agencies and have a better. Abusing the Police, abusing soldiers, abusing security agencies would not augur well for us because, by the time we drag into anarchy, everybody would be on its, and then there would be serious problem in the country.

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“We have security problems in the country, bandits now go into people’s houses to kidnap, not on the highway anymore. Of recent in the last couple of days, they are going into institutions, in Zaria; ABU, the Polytechnic and took away people.”

On Banditry in the North

The sultan said that northerners have fled their homes, making trips of about 48 to 50 miles to flee from the raging violence perpetrated in the region by terrorism and banditry.

He said, “The insecurity in the north is so high that people are even afraid of travelling from Funtua to Zaria, a journey of about 48 or 50 miles. Not to talk of Sokoto to Abuja or to Kano.

“We know what we are going through. We are so insecure in the north that people are losing hope. People keep things in the house so that when the bandits come, they would let them be free.

“Couple of weeks ago, 76 people were killed in Sokoto by bandits in a day, it is not a story because I went there with the governor in Eastern part of Sokoto but you don’t hear these stories because it happened in the North and we don’t have media that is strong enough to bring out these atrocities about the bandits so people think that the North is secure.

“No north is not secure at all. In fact, it is the worst place to be in this country because bandits go about in the villages with their AK47, and nobody talks to them. They stop at the markets and buy things and even collect change with their weapons."

On the Price of Food

 “Food prices are on the increase and we need to do something about it. The cost of onion is too high and beyond the reach of many people. A hungry man is an angry man. The rising cost of foodstuff in the markets is an issue. The amount an onion costs in Nigeria today is an insight into the current economic hardship in the country.

“I think we really need to sit down and look at these issues because a hungry man is an angry man. We do not lack recommendations and solutions to our problems. What we lack is implementation and that sense of purpose to do the right thing, but we don’t like doing the right thing, we always want to cut corners.”