THE Sultan of Sokoto and President of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, has urged Nigerians to ignore secession agitators who mean no good for the country.
Speaking today in Abuja at the 2021 Second Quarterly Meeting of the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC), with the theme: “Ethnics, Religious and Political Profiling is Avoidable”, the Sultan assured that there will not be war in the nation.
The Sultan who is also the Co-chairman of NIREC said he is a believer of dialogue which his religion taught him and would always advocate for dialogue as a way to achieve peace.
“People have been talking about war, there will not be war in Nigeria, who is going to fight who?
“In families, we have Christians and Muslims, you have ethnic nationalities in your country, you have inter-married.
“So, all these noise people are making is trying to draw attention to what they can get out of this country, and if you look at them, they are in minority.
“In this country, there are excellent people that mean well for common man and humanity, and that is what God created us to do,” the Sultan said.
He added, “So, let us continue to work together, let’s continue to sit together, let us continue to dialogue, I’m a total believer in dialogue and nothing will change my mind because my religion teaches me to always dialogue and I believe no problem is too big enough not to be resolved when we sit down and talk because even wars are fought to bring peace.
“But if you know you can bring peace without fighting a war, then why do you have to take up arms? Peace is the most important aspect of our lives because without peace we can’t even worship.”
On his part, the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and Co-chairman of NIREC, Dr Samson Ayokunle, said insecurity had paralyzed activities across the country.
He said that food security is being threatened as farmers are being killed by bandits on their farms.
“Many things are not right with the nation, the most challenging one today is insecurity which has almost paralyzed all human activities apart from the havoc the restriction brought about by COVID-19 has done.
“To travel short distance today calls for serious prayers, and travelling with perhaps every security personnel because of kidnapping for ransom, ritual killing, armed robbery, insurgents attack, banditry and other forms of violent attack.
“Farmers lives are threatened on their farms while some have been killed while farming.
“The result of attacks on farmers is the scarcity of farm products which will lead to famine if care is not taken by those in authority quickly,” Ayokunle said.
While expressing worry over the daily killings of innocent citizens, he called on religious leaders to unite and speak against the deplorable state of the nation.
He cautioned that breaking up the country may not solve the problem, but the government should be proactive in addressing issues causing the agitations.
He also called for more funding of security forces and close monitoring of how the funds are being spent.
