Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, the Sultan of Sokoto, has voiced concern about the degree of hardship, insecurity, and poverty that Nigerians are facing.
He said it would be hard to stop the masses from rising up shortly.
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During the sixth executive meeting of the Northern Traditional Rulers’ Council on Wednesday, the Sultan gave a speech to the attendees at the Arewa House in Kaduna.
He claimed that in order to prevent any kind of rebellion against the current political leaders, traditional rulers and religious leaders have been calming the populace, particularly the youth without jobs.
The Sultan stated, however, that “people are reaching a point where traditional leaders are unable to quell their revolt against the government and political leaders who are supposed to find solutions to their persistent socio-economic plight.”
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“And let’s not take that for granted; individuals remain silent for a reason—people have been interacting with them. We have been communicating with them and attempting to reassure them that everything will work out, but they refuse to give up.
“The major issue is that I hope to Almighty Allah that they won’t wake up one day and declare that they no longer believe in you. These individuals cannot be silenced indefinitely as traditional, spiritual leaders and diplomats.
“We’ve reached a point where people are extremely frustrated, hungry, and angry, yet they still think there are individuals they can talk to. Thankfully, some of us also serve as traditional and religious leaders. They believe in some of their governors, other traditional rulers, and some of their religious leaders.
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Thus, we are faced with the difficult duty of calming everyone down and reassuring them that everything will be alright. And that they ought to keep praying and carrying out good deeds because prayer in isolation will not bear fruit.
“To exacerbate the situation, the majority of our population is becoming more and more impoverished. They don’t have the typical means of subsistence that the average person does, not even a decent meal a day.
However, I think that discussing concerns like insecurity and the growing rate of poverty is something we cannot ignore and pretend that everything is OK. I’ve expressed my opinion that things are not right in Nigeria numerous times and in numerous forums. Naturally, things in the North are not good.
What are the underlying problems that are causing poverty and an increase in insecurity cases? It is not, in my opinion, a problem with the new administration. This government seems to me to be an extension of the previous one. The party is the same. What then is the actual issue? “I believe that we are here to talk to ourselves, in part,” he said.
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