Monday, 4 July 2016

Sultan: Stop associating Islam with negative things

The Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, has advised Nigerians to stop associating religion with anything negative in the country, saying no country ever survives religiouswar.Speaking during a breakfast dinner organised for religious leaders, security agencies, resident communities, media practitioners, NGOs and a host of others at his palace, he also said that Muslims felt more marginalized in the country, only that they were not complaining.“When there is a vacant position and a Hausa man is appointed, we call it ‘northernization and when a Muslim leader visits an Islamic country, we say he is trying to Islamize Nigeria, while thereare many people from other religion and tribes manning other offices and we witness many Christian leaders who have visited Christian countries but nobody said they were planning to Christianize the country,” he said.He said everything was being politicized and anything negative was being given to Muslims, Fulani (herders) and Hausa, even as there were other people committing heinous crimes elsewhere but were not linked to religion, ethnicity or region.The monarch who said that Nigeria was a beautiful country whose masses loved one another, blamed the elite for some of the country’s challenges.Maintaining that the elite were the major problem of the country because of their selfishness and uncompromising attitudes, he said, “Whenever one loses power, he creates problem, and the masses are always at the receiving end.”He wondered why people blamed  Fulani men for every attack, saying, “If criminals are doing bad things, they are criminals and they can be found anywhere, in any religion and tribes. Therefore don’t add religious or tribal toga to any act of terrorism.”In his remarks, a Kaduna-based clergy, Pastor Yohana begged Muslims to forgive their Christian brothers that offended them and vice versa.


Daily Trust

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