Sultan of Sokoto lashes out at Igbo leaders who claim there is a plan to Islamise Nigeria

SULTAN of Sokoto Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III has lashed out at several Igbo leaders of thought for making provocative statements alleging that the recent attacks by Fulani herdsmen across the country is part of an agenda to Islamise Nigeria.

 

Over recent years, heavily armed Fulani herdsmen have carried out numerous attacks against local farming communities across the country, resulting in hundreds being left for dead. Disputes over cattle destroying crops have been behind the dispute and the issue has raised concern among community leaders across the country.

 

In Enugu State, two brutal attacks have taken place lately, prompting leaders across the southeast to lament what they see as an attempt by the Fulani establishment to forcefully take over their land. Reacting to the accusations, Sultan Abubakar said he was worried that people who were supposed to be elder statesmen could make such provocative comments.

 

Sultan Abubakar said: “I am always worried when Nigerians who are supposed to be elder statesmen make provocative comments about this government trying to Islamise Nigeria. How do you Islamise a country like Nigeria that is probably 80m Muslims in population but we agreed that we are 50-50.

 

"Somebody so naive even said the visit of the US secretary of state was to strengthen the Islamisation programme of the leadership of the country.  The problem with herdsmen and farmers is purely about economy as the herdsman wants food for his cattle and the farmer wants his farm produce to feed his family."

 

He added that he has  tried to broker peace with Fulanis and Tivs in Nasarawa and Benue States, having been to Makurdi four times for such meetings. Sultan Abubabkar said he wondered how Fulanis can go to the southeast, south-south and southwest to Islamise people?

 

According to the sultan, the herdsmen are not there in the name of any Fulani organisation but are on their own and they must be treated as criminals and brought to justice. He added that subsequently, people should stop making this noise about Islamisation and herdsmen being used to Islamise the country and so many negative things.

 

Furthermore the sultan raised the alarm over the deplorable condition of internally displaced people in the northeast, declaring that unless urgent steps are taken to arrest the situation, 50,000 children will die in the next few weeks.  He lamented that the issue of the suffering of people displaced by the Boko Haram insurgents in the northeast poses a serious human crisis to the nation, stressing that Nigerians seem to be forgetting the difficulties the victims were going through.