Sultan to politicians: Tell your supporters to avoid violence

The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Abubakar Saad, yesterday called on presidential candidates of the PDP and APC, President Goodluck Jonathan and retired Gen. Muhammadu Buhari not to stop at the recent signing of a peace accord but to prevail on their supporters to avoid violence.

Speaking at his palace when he received President Goodluk Jonathan who was in Sokoto for his re-election campaign, the sultan also condemned mudslinging and political campaigns based on religious sentiment, saying politicians should rather address issues.

“Politics in this country has now been turned into a war, families have been divided, friends have become enemies all because of seeking political offices, as Muslim leaders we will not keep quiet and see things go worse, things are really bad but we will continue to talk to you our leaders to please put a full stop to what is happening now, let us see our leaders campaigning based on issues,” he said.

“We have had issues of PVC, the permanent voters cards and I want to tell you even myself here, I don’t have a PVC, so it means I will not vote on 14th February, so we have to look for a way out, so it’s for your government to now look at what to do, how to ensure that all the cards get to voters before election”, he said.

Earlier, President Goodluck Jonathan said his campaign train was in Sokoto to formerly introduce himself and the vice president as the presidential candidate and the running mate for the forthcoming election.