Sultan decries the attacks of bandits in the North

27 Nov Sultan decries the attacks of bandits in the North

The Sultan of Sokoto and President of the Nigerian Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III has expressed concern about the rampant attacks of bandits in the North, saying it is  the worst place to live in the country.

He spoke on Thursday in Abuja at the 4th Quarter Meeting of the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC).

The Sultan who is also the NIREC Co-Chairman also complained about the high cost of living in the country, especially the prizes of foodstuff which he said has skyrocketed to high heavens and beyond the reach of majority.

According to him, as Nigerians, both the authority and the citizens, must behave responsibly and that people cannot behave irresponsibly and expect that the country would be a better place.

“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 they 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.

“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,” the sultan said.

He said that in the North-west in particular, people don’t sleep with their eyes closed, adding that even on Wednesday, a village was razed down in Sokoto, but people don’t hear about it.

“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.

Also speaking, the President, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and Co-Chairman of NIREC, Dr. Samson Olasupo Ayokunle, while thanking God for saving nation from the COVID-19 pandemic, compared to other country, urged government to always tackle problem before it degenerates.

On his part, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. Boss Mustapha, regretted that the nation is still faced with insecurity despite the government’s efforts.

“Today, despite all efforts including the deployment of enormous resources, our country still faces a measure of insecurity which is impacting negatively on our economy, social life, education of children and young persons, investment and remains a threat to lives and livelihood,” he said.