Plateau massacre nothing to do with ethno-religious agenda – Sultan

• The sultan decried the attacks that resulted in the death of almost 200 villagers and destruction of properties worth millions of naira.

The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar lll, says security agencies are not doing enough to address the deepening security crisis and check the heinous and nefarious activities of rampaging armed nonstate actors across the across.

The respected monarch said this in the wake of the vicious attacks on Plateau villages by terrorists believed to be Fulani herdsmen.

The sultan decried the attacks that resulted in the death of almost 200 villagers and destruction of properties worth millions of naira.

He said authorities needed to be proactive in nipping the activities of the terrorists in their bud, noting that criminals were always a step ahead of the authorities.

The Sultan spoke on Wednesday at the 80th edition of National Islamic Vocation Course (IVC) with the theme: ‘The Position of Muslims in National Politics and Economy: Where we are and where we ought to be’ held at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Stadium, Bauchi.

Sultan said, “We only condemned such things but after condemning such activities by these bandits and criminals what next? What are the rest of government who are supposed to protect our lives and property (doing)? Why do we keep on having these clashes, why do we keep on having these deaths caused by ourselves? The Tudun Biri incident is still fresh with us and now the recent on the Plateau.

The Sultan quarried the security agencies, asking “Why can’t you be proactive to stop such attacks before they happened?”

“What happened to our intelligence gathering mechanism? Are you telling me that nobody knows that such attacks were coming on?

“In various places whether in Sokoto, Kebbi or Kaduna or anywhere, have we lost our sense of gathering information to avert any or such key loss? We must asked our government to be up and doing because this bandits are always a step ahead.

“For some of us who are opportune to serve in the military, we know the activities of security agencies, they will keep on asking questions what’s really is happening?

The Sultan further lamemted that insecurity had been politised, warning people against attributing killings to ethnicity or religion.

“We are all in one big country where we have poverty. Yes, Muslims, Christians and even those who don’t have religion go to the same market and they buy the same food stuff, they enter the same vehicles pay the same fares.

“So it is not the issue of religion, let’s not tell ourselves that anybody is planning anything against Muslims or Christians. No, it is the issue of leadership and I have said it many times that let have confidence in leadership that within the next few months something will change. Let keep on having hope because the moment we lose hope I am telling we are finished.”