Insecurity: We northerners have put ourselves in a quagmire – Sultan of Sokoto

sultanThe Sultan of Sokoto, Dr. Sa’ad Abubakar III, has said that the present security and developmental challenges facing Northern Nigeria was self inflicted by northerners themselves.

The Sultan, who is also the President, Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) spoke at the Northern Nigeria Governors Peace and Reconciliation Committee meeting in Kaduna, blaming northerners for inflicting heavy pains on themselves. According to him, “Let us sit and talk freely and articulate positions that will bring us out of the quagmire we put ourselves. It is important that religious and traditional rulers from our various states sit together, so that each and every one of us will talk freely for us to articulate a position as the way out of this problem we find ourselves.

We northerners have put ourselves in a quagmire, because whatever that is happening in the North is our own doing. This was because we did not do what we are supposed to do. And since we know that, we have to solve our problems ourselves. So, I think, it is not a bad idea that the committee was set up.

“We wrote a memo of about nine pages or thereabout covering various issues affecting the country and the north in particular to the then Acting President and now President. Goodluck Jonathan, through the Nigeria Inter Religious Council, NIREC, where we suggested solutions to the problems.’’