Sultan of Sokoto and president-general of Nigerian Superme Council for Islamic Affairs (NISCIA), Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, said yesterday that agitations have become a recurrent decimal in the country lately because of the rot in the system.
He said if the system was working normal over the years, there would not have been room for any agitation from whatever quarter, adding that because impunity was tolerated for too long, people now behave as it pleases them.
Speaking in Sokoto when Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, paid him Sallah homage in his palace, the Sultan said such wrong deeds backed by impunity gave birth to lack of good governance which is now steering the country in the face.
Maintaining that Nigerians should believe in her greatness, he sued for dialogue in resolving perceived misunderstandings.
The royal father said, “In the past, a lot of things were done by some people with impunity and nothing was done. That is why you find lack of good governance weighing us down now in the country.
“However, as it is now, no matter how bad your hand is, you cannot cut it and throw away, hence the need to employ dialogue to resolve all the misunderstandings and problems in the country.”
The religious and traditional leader admonished Nigerians never to get tired of sitting together to brainstorm, analyse what went wrong and retrace their steps to enable them collectively move forward as one indivisible entity.
Towards achieving this, the Sultan appealed to elder statesmen in the country to urgently wade into the sectional crises.
“We should not allow sentiments to rule our heads. Nigeria is our only country and we have no any other nation than it. We are not short of them across Nigeria and they should help the country by championing the dialogue. We should love one another irrespective of any religious, ethnic or cultural differences”, he stated.
Assessing Wike’s developmental strides in Rivers State, the Sultan commended the governor for his belief in the indivisibility of Nigeria and maintaining a very cordial relationship with the Muslim community in his state.
Earlier, Governor Wike said that the people and government of Rivers State believe in the indissolubility of Nigeria.
According to him, rather than contemplating break up as an option, a better way of resolving perceived grievances should be employed.