Force can’t develop people – Sultan
Chairman of the Northern Traditional Rulers Council and Sultan of Sokoto Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar yesterday told political leaders that they cannot use force to develop or move people forward.
He said the Northern tradition rulers do not have a political party but are administrators of the people and would tell political leaders the truth when they go wrong.
Speaking at the Northern Traditional Ruler’s Council meeting in Kaduna, the sultan who said the meeting was very important coming at a time of security challenges particularly in the north, added: “Northern leaders, we need to, in our responsibilities, guide them and as we guide them we must have at the back of our minds the fear of God taking into consideration where we all came from, what our backgrounds are because, long before Nigeria was created, traditional leaders had been ruling and leading people.
“We as traditional rulers can only continue our deliberations in our quest to have a peaceful, stable, North. As most of us know, in the days of Ahmadu Bello of blessed mem- ory, things were much better than they are now. In our quest to have a stable and developed North we keep on looking to all and sundry, most importantly looking up to our political leaders because they have the leading mandate to administer the North.
“Long before the amalgamation of Nigeria in 1914, we had existed as leaders in this part of the world and I believe we have stronger leaders who wanted to see our areas, our communities more peaceful, more developed and more prosperous where everybody, whoever you are, will pursue his life the way he feels his life should be pursued and he take up his religion, whichever religions he believes he wants to practice without any molestation from anybody, that was what existed before.
In his address, Niger State Governor, Dr. Muazu Babangida Aliyu who was represented by his deputy, Ahmed Musa Ibeto said Nigeria is passing through one of the most difficult times in post independence history as a nation when political and electoral tension, social and economic insecurity, communal conflicts and civil unrest have reached unprecedented levels, requiring the collective dedication of all.
“Let us not be naïve to assume that the task at hand is an easy one, as we have no other country than Nigeria and we must do everything possible to ensure its survival and progress, not merely by wishful thinking but by being proactively engaged in positive actions that will promote peace, unity and development in the nation’, Aliyu stressed.
Also speaking, Bauchi State Governor Isa Yuguda said he hoped the forum would address the insecurity facing the North and the country at large, adding that traditional rulers owe it a duty to reverse the trend. Governor Sa’idu Dakingari of Kebbi said states need to use traditional rulers efficiently to maintain peace. Governor Muktar Ramalan Yero of Kaduna said: “As royal fathers, I believe your usual intervention is imperative towards galvanizing our people in reinventing the northern region of the past, when people lived peacefully irrespective of their tribes or the deity they worshipped.” The emirs of Bauchi, Zazzau, Zuru, Jema’a, Gombe, Kanam, Wuse, Zamfara, Etsu Nupe, Etsu Karu, Ohinoyi of Ebira among others were at the meeting.