By Hamza Suleiman
The Northern Traditional Rulers Council on Tuesday expressed determination to help their governors with new options in tackling the lingering insecurity in the region.
Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar lll, the Sultan of Sokoto and the Chairman of the council, made this known in his opening remarks at the 7th Executive Committee Meeting of the council in Maiduguri.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the theme of the meeting was “Enhanced Security As A Panacea for Stability and Development of the North.”
The Sultan said:
“We will be speaking with one voice to say enough is enough of this senseless killings of innocent people, across the north, across the country.
We have never and we will never support it. We never feel happy about it; we are also sad whenever we heard such things. And we have received so many statements of condemnation.
“How many more times do we need to condemn it before our political leaders use our security agencies to bring it to an end or at least to bring to barest minimum the killings in our country,” he asked?
The sultan said that traditional rulers would not get tired of calling the leaders to do what they believed must be done to upload the borden of responsibility given to leaders by the Almighty God.
“Every governor will account for what he did in his tenure and Sultan will not be there to defend him before God,” Abubakar said.
He, however, said it was not good enough for the people to be trading blame over the insecurity challenges and and other related problems in the region.
“I think it’s high time we stopped making comments that insinuate that certain people are the cause of our problem, no.
“We are the cause of all our problems. If we want to resolve the problem in the north as leaders we can do so.
“How? We wilĺ sit together and take the issues up and solve them one by one from the governors, the traditional leaders to religious leaders to the common man on the street what he should do to help the security agencies, the governors and political leadership and all to bring to the barest minimum these killings.
“I believe we can do so, we have to look at other options. If we try one, two, three and we have not succeed then let us try four, five, six, seven and then definitely we will succeed.
“What I mean is that bring in traditional institutions from day one and share with them what you want to achieve, then you will see how successful you will be in your governance for any state or local government.
“I believe we know the importance of some of these things. And I believe we have what it takes to bring to barest minimum insecurity in our country.” Abubakar insisted.
The sultan said that the security problem was not limited to Nigeria but a global problem which could only be addressed through dialogue and diplomacy and by using arms.
“For example what happened in Plateau yesterday (April 14) and also within the week, over 100 people were killed in Plateau.
“Many people just appeared from somewhere and then killed people and went away and they were never arrested.
“Before then people where killed in Sokoto on Sallah day; People where killed in Kebbi; people were killed in so many other places.
“The number of people killed in the last one month is so high and not only in Plateau, and not only in Borno and not only in Sokoto but in so many other places.
“We are more concerned with the situation in our country than every politician because before the 1914 Amalgamation, bringing the North and the South to form Nigeria our fore-fathers where running the affairs of the present day Nigeria.
“Everybody knows the Kanem-Borno empire; of course the Sokoto Caliphate; of course the Oyo empire; of course the Benin Kingdom all of them existed before Nigeria and that is why we as traditional leaders we feel bad, we feel saddened when we see our people being killed by other people whom we don’t know” he said.
“I think it is important for us to work harder and talk to ourselves and in the close session we will do that and we must come out with what we believe will give advice to our political leaders,’” Abubakar said.
He prayed to God to guide the political leadership to tow the right path toward restoration of the past glory of the olden days of the peaceful northern states and promised to work with them to ensure peace and tranquility in the entire northern states.
Vice-President Kashim Shettima while declaring the meeting open, expressed the Federal Government’s determination to work with the sub-national governments and the traditional institutions to address security challenges in the country.
Shettima, who was represented by Gov. Babagana Zulum of Borno, also commended the efforts of the security agencies in tackling the security challenges as it were and urged them to redouble their efforts.
Earlier, in his remarks, the co-host, Zulum, highlighted security and peacebuilding, agriculture and youth empowerment as the critical pillars of sustainable development in the region.
“Our youth population is large, energetic and eager to contribute, but many are without opportunities.
“This vacuum is dangerous. We must invest heavily in skills acquisition, vocational education, digital innovation, and entrepreneurship.
“Empowered youths are not only less vulnerable to crime or radicalisation, they become active agents of development,” he said.
(NAN)
