BY ANKELI EMMANUEL, Sokoto
The Sultan of Sokoto and president general, Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) Sa’ad Abubakar III in his Eid-el-fitr message to Nigerian Muslim Ummah said the issue of security is everybody’s business.
Sultan advised that, all and sundry should be concerned on how best to have a more secured nation, just as he admonished Nigerians to complement the efforts of the security agencies.
“The issue of security is a collective responsibility and not that of the security agencies alone,’’ Sultan affirmed.
While decrying the persistent ugly incidences of farmers/herders clashes lately in the country, the Sultan wondered why such perpetrators should be called Fulani herdsmen, hence according to him, the ideal Fulani herdsmen only go about with their cattle and a stick.
The religious cum traditional leader therefore insisted that, such so-called herdsmen that go about fermenting troubles are simply criminals and must be treated as such.
He further wondered how those killer herdsmen got such weapons, saying, the federal government should as a matter national urgency try to probe the sources of their weapons.
Said Sultan, “Agreed, there are bad eggs among the Fulani, but those carrying arms and perpetrating heinous killings are not herdsmen.
“The real herdsmen do not carry guns, but they only move with their cows and sticks.”
He however, insisted that until the federal government ensures adequate punitive measures for perpetrators of such crimes, the trend might go on unabated.