Sidi Umar
The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, yesterday accused politicians of destabilising the country.
He urged them to ensure peace as the nation approaches the 2015 general elections.
Abubakar made the statement in Sokoto when the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Ahmed Adamu Mu’azu, paid him a courtesy call.
“So much acrimony and mudslinging is now going on in Nigeria and there is the need to stabilise the nation’s polity,” he said.
“So many things are now happening in the nation’s polity, contrary to what obtains in other parts of the world.
“We need to do whatever it takes to have stability in the polity. Whosoever emerges in 2015 should be acceptable to all Nigerians.
“Violence always begets violence and there is nowhere in the world where violence will bring peace. Leaders at all levels must always preach peace for Nigeria to evenly develop.”
He said Nigerians wanted an immediate stop to the politics of hatred as it would not do any good to the country.
The Sultan charged the PDP national chairman to use his experience and clout to stabilize and sanitize the polity.
”We need stability in PDP and we also need stability in Nigeria. You have to do whatever it takes to ensure stability in our politics.
“There are so many things that people say or do that are not politics. We have seen how politics is being played in other parts of the world.”
He said the PDP as the ruling party should ensure that on the road to the 2015 elections no drop of the blood of innocent people is spilt.
”You must exercise justice to the people you are leading because without justice there can never be peace. Without justice and peace, there can never be unity.
”There must be level-playing ground for everybody to exercise his constitutional right.”
He said the 2015 elections must be clean and clear so that whoever emerges as the president, everybody across the world would know that Nigerians are mature and have elected their own leader.
The Sultan said there was no need to use force because to force someone against his wish would not bring the desired objective.
“There is this Hausa adage which says you can only force a horse to the a river but you can’t force it to drink water.”
He said as fathers of all, traditional rulers would continue to give fatherly advice to leaders of all political parties and admonish them on the need for peaceful coexistence.
Abubakar said he was confident that Mu’azu would provide good leadership to the PDP due to his wealth of experience.
The Sultan also advised Muslims and Christians to live according to the dictates of their religions.
“All the major religions have taught us to be honest and transparent and be good to our neighbours,” he added.
He said adherents of the two religions should always live in peace with one another and be good neighbours, ”because you don’t create your neighbour; it is God almighty that created him and destined that you should live together.
”Whatever religion you practise, if you are a Muslim do it according to the dictates of Islam and if you are a Christian hold on to your belief and do what you are supposed to do according to the tenets of the religion.”
In his remarks, Mu’azu told the Sultan that the visit was aimed at showing respect to him as a father to all Nigerians, saying his party had a lot of respect for the nation’s traditional institutions.
“Traditional rulers in Nigeria are striving to ensure the prevalence of peace and unity,” he added.
