The Sultan of Sokoto and President General of the Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar has lamented the persistent killings in Nigeria.
Speaking at a National Stakeholders Summit on 2019 election Integrity, on Thursday, Abubakar said there was too much bloodshed, cases of thuggery, terrorism and armed banditry in the country.
The Sultan said, “As Christians and Muslims, we know the sacredness of life. We cannot go about killing innocent people and claiming to be doing so in the name of religion. This is not right and must be condemned and must be removed from our communities. All of us must rise up against those people.
“There is too much blood shedding in Nigeria, the blood of innocent people who does not even know what is happening or what is governance. This is happening across the country and if we don’t stop this and recognize the sacredness of human life, we cannot see peace, we cannot have peace and development in any place.
“Nigerians must wake up and know that we must come together because our religion does not allow us to kill people, but preach peaceful coexistence, loving your neigbour as yourself and things like that. So, when people spread a different notion about what Islam or Christianity said about loving your neigbour by killing him or abusing him every day and calling him all manner of names, I don’t know.
“The CAN President speaks for the millions of Christians in the country and I speak for my own brothers and sisters who are Muslims. You don’t have to bring everybody; you just need to bring the leadership to a room to discuss. But we must discuss what we believe in and what our religion order us to. Once we go out, we can through the media spread that campaign.
“It is one thing to come to a meeting and say one thing, it is another to go out and implement those that things we agree on. In Islam, for you to do what you don’t believe in is very bad and so, you can not say one thing and do another. So, we must do what we say and work with what we believe in.
“People see politics as do or die. We should not see it that way. That is why we tell out politicians always that they should feel they must be in a particular office always. You can contribute to the development of the country or your community by being an independent person. It is not by force for you to go into a public office.
“If you know the consequences of holding a public office when you are going to face the almighty God, you will not want to hold a public office. People feel you just come into public office, take whatever you want to take, go about in convoys. That is not leadership.
“If you are elected by people, let them come near you so that you feel their pains. You can’t be in an office and nobody come close to you. A leader must take decision concerning his people by consultations. You don’t just wake up and enact a law that is totally against my freedom.
“These are things that we must continue to speak out as religious and traditional rulers. There is nothing to fear about because if we don’t tell the truth, it will one day work against you and you will find yourself in a bad place and you will be struggling to get out of it and you won’t be able to.”
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