Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, the Sultan of Sokoto, has disclosed that some religious leader who make inflammatory statements and comments that could threaten national security should be made face the full wrath of the law.
Islamic religious leader who stated that religious leaders have a huge influence on their congregation should desist from making a statement that could instigate violence reported Tribune Online.
He told Nigerians to disregard a statement credited so a section a Fulani recently. The group had claimed that Nigeria belongs to them.
He said: “I am the leader of the Usman dan Fodio dynasty and I have never seen anywhere in the hundreds of books that Usman dan Fodio wrote where he said that Nigeria belongs to the Fulanis.
“What he wrote about was the role of Islam in leadership, governance, etc. His books don’t mention the conquest of any land or claim ownership of any territory.
“People make comments that jihad is meant to Islamise countries but I say no, dan Fodio never came to Islamise any country, he only preached against bad government.
“That fake write-up was by those who don’t want peace in this country and we have denounced that. I am the national patron of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association [MACBAN].
It [the association] has been in existence for 44 years. There are two other organisations that I know but others, I don’t know them. Please, verify from us before you put blame on us.
“I am a proud Fulani man and if I come back again to this world, I would like to be Fulani again. There is nothing wrong with that but to pin every problem on the Fulani is not ideal.”
He said not all the people involved in kidnapping, banditry and other crimes are from the Fulani stock or are members of MACBAN.
“They don’t belong to Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association. They are criminals. I don’t know why security agencies allow them to be what they are.
“It is the responsibility of the security agencies, not mine. There are Fulani criminals just as there are criminal elements among the Berom, Yoruba, Igbo and other tribes in the country. Let us stop name-calling,” he stated.
Sultan Abubakar made the statement during the celebration of the first annual Plateau State Forgiveness and Reconciliation Day.
We gathered that the reconciliation was organised by the Interfaith Mediation Centre in collaboration with Plateau State Peace Building Agency.
According to the Sultan, the founder of the Sokoto Caliphate, the late Usman dan Fodio, never said anything about any section of the North claiming ownership of the country.
He, therefore, urged religious leaders to desist from using their influential position either in the church or mosque to say bad things about Nigeria.
Any guilty religious leaders making such statement should be prosecuted to serve as a deterrent to others who might want to indulge in the same act.
