Ahead of the 2019 general elections, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, has urged Muslims across the country to get their Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) in order to elect competent leaders.
Abubakar also disclosed that the Muslim Ummah is yet to decide on whom to vote for in the forthcoming presidential election between President Muhammadu Buhari and any other candidate.
Also, Convener, Arewa Research and Development Project (ARDP), Dr. Usman Bugaje, said the citizens have been suffering since 1999 because “the leadership we have been electing is incompetent and has not been able to deliver.”
The Sultan, who spoke yesterday at the Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI) pre-Ramadan meeting in Kaduna, said members of the Islamic community will have to do an assessment of what the present government has done for them before making up their mind whether to vote for it again or not.
“Islam is a religion of justice and fairness. As such, I urge you to evaluate the current situation of the country and make your own judgement, vote for the candidates you feel will serve you better,” he said.
Cautioning politicians to guard their utterances in the interest of peace, the Sultan expressed dismay over rising cases of drug abuse and the intake of Codeine by Nigerians, especially women and young girls in the North, and called on parents to monitor their wards to stop the scourge.
According to him, instances where political leaders go about abusing themselves publicly and such are reported on different media platforms nationally and internationally does not speak well of the country.
His words: “We are the only ones that can bring an end to the challenges confronting us as a nation. We should assess what the government has done for the Muslim Ummah since their election in the last general elections and use it as a yardstick to determine who we will vote for in the forthcoming elections because if we do not make the assessment, we might just end up voting for the wrong people and we would have to wait for another four or even eight years to elect new leaders.”
Abubakar also called on Islamic scholars to educate and enlighten Muslims during their sermons in their various mosques on how to elect credible leaders, who will prioritise issues challenging Muslims in the country.
He frowned at the wanton killings going on in the country and called on security agencies to take proactive steps to tackle the menace.
On the month of Ramadan, he called on Muslims to start fasting as soon as the announcement on the moon sighting is made, saying: “We have a Moon Sighting Committee, which reports to me, when the moon is sighted before the announcement is made.”
He, however, called on Muslims to use the month of Ramadan to pray for the Ummah and the entire country for peace to reign.
Convener, Arewa Research and Development Project (ARDP), Dr. Usman Bugaje, in a paper entitled: “Issues, dimensions and way forward on the challenge of insecurity and state of the nation: A wake-up call to the Ummah,” faulted Nigeria’s leadership recruitment process, which he said has continued because of incompetent leaders.
He said: “Our political system does not appear to be sustainable because the leadership recruitment mechanism within the political parties is fraud and only makes room for crooks and people who have very little to offer and therefore are sycophantic.
“We citizens have suffered since 1999 in the hands of politicians, poverty has more than doubled and what this shows is that the leadership we have been electing is incompetent and has not been able to deliver.
“The government is responsible for providing the security and welfare of the citizens. Where is the security? Go to Zamfara, it is least reported, but huge numbers of people are being killed. Go to Birnin Gwari, go to Mambilla, before you even come to Taraba, Benue, Kogi and other places. The North-East is still not fairly stable.
“Isn’t that showing that our security forces are incompetent? These are things that are not sustainable. One of my recommendations is that people should not vote on party basis in the coming elections; they should vote on person basis. If an individual is competent, it does not matter the party he comes from, because these parties are empty and have no content or courage and have not shown that they can deliver on anything.
“Considering the failure of security forces in the country, the communities have to start providing security for themselves within the bounds of the law because they cannot continue to depend on the national or state security apparatus that has not delivered.
“We need to get the religious and traditional institutions to become more proactive, because in the next 10 years, if we still have the kind of leaders we have today, I do not know if we will have a country to call our own.
“So, there is need for the communities to use their religious and traditional institutions to start preparing for the day when this false and fragile arrangement collapses, so that we do not find ourselves like Somallia or any other war-ravaged country.”
In his remarks, the Secretary General of JNI, Dr. Khalid Aliyu, appealed to Muslims to make concerted efforts aimed at bringing sanity into the conduct of Tafsir and other preaching sessions for the benefit of humanity.
Dignitaries at the occasion included the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II and the Emir of Zazzau, Shehu Idris.
.mew telegraph