The Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar III, has expressed sadness over the level of insecurity, especially in the northern part of the country.
Abubakar disclosed that bandits are fast overrunning the north, carrying out their activities openly and unchecked.
He said bandits now move from house to house, village to village, market to market, with AK 47 openly, purchasing food stuffs and other items, and even collect change without any challenge from the security agencies.
The Sultan who spoke at the fourth quarterly meeting of the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC), in Abuja, on Thursday, confirmed that north has become the worst place to live in Nigeria because of the “completely” collapsed security system.
He said: “Security situation in northern Nigeria has assumed a worrisome situation, regretting that no strong media platform could report the story to the world. Few weeks ago, over 76 persons were killed in a community in Sokoto in a day. I was there alongside the governor to commiserate with the affected community. Unfortunately, you don’t hear these stories in the media because it’s in the north. We have accepted the fact that north doesn’t have strong media to report the atrocities of these bandits.
“People think north is safe but that assumption is not true. In fact, it’s the worst place to be in this country. Because bandits go around in the villages, households and markets with their AK 47 and nobody is changing them. They stop at the market, buy things, pay and collect change, with their weapons openly displayed. These are facts I know because I am at the centre of it.
“I am not only a traditional ruler; I am also a religious leader. So, I am in a better place to tell the story. I can speak for the north in this regard because I am fully aware of the security challenges there. We have to sincerely and seriously find solutions to the problem; otherwise, we will find ourselves soon, in a situation where we would lose sleep because of insecurity.
“As religious leaders, we must promote peace, love, unity and tolerance among our followers. We will discuss all these issues at the close door session of the meeting and possibly come out with strong suggestions for Government.
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