The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has raised the alarm over an alleged plan by the Sokoto State governor, Ahmed Aliyu,
to depose the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III
Executive Director of MURIC, Prof. Isiaq Akintola, in a statement on Monday, said Nigerian Muslims reject any thought of deposing the Sultan.
He claimed that there were feelers indicating that the governor may descend on the Sultan of Sokoto at any moment, using the same excuses used to dethrone the 15 traditional rulers whom he removed earlier.
Governor Aliyu had earlier deposed 15 traditional rulers for various offences.
MURIC pointed out that the Sultan’s stool is not only traditional, but also religious, and that his jurisdiction goes beyond Sokoto but covers the whole of Nigeria.
“He is the spiritual head of all Nigerian Muslims. Therefore, any governor who tampers with the stool of the Sultan will have Nigerian Muslims to reckon with because the Sultan combines the office of the Sultan of Sokoto and that of the President General of the NSCIA,” Akintola said.
He said having a traditional ruler as a leader has been a condition Nigerian Muslims accepted a long time ago as a necessary weakness in the structure which they have to live with.
“A military governor, Col. Yakubu Muazu exposed this soft underbelly when he deposed Sultan Ibrahim Dasuki on 20th April 1996. Nigerian Muslims will be forced to make a hard decision if Sokoto governors continue to diminish the authority of the Sultan.
“For the avoidance of any doubts, Sultan Muhammad Sa’d Abubakar is not only the Sultan of Sokoto but the Sultan of the Nigerian people. His performance and style of leadership have warmed him into the hearts of Nigerians. Nigerian Muslims North and South of the country may be constrained to pick Islamic scholars only as President General of the NSCIA and overall leader of Nigerian Muslims.
“It will be farewell to the leadership of traditional rulers over the NSCIA and an irreversible departure from Sokoto’s privileged leadership position. But history will not be kind to Col. Yakubu Muazu and Ahmed Aliyu for ruining the chances of Sokoto.
“Once is happenstance, twice is a coincidence, the third time is enemy action. If the deposition of a Sultan and NSCIA leader happens a second time, Nigerian Muslims will not allow the embarrassment to happen a third time,” the statement read in part.
MURIC reiterated its call on the Sokoto State House of Assembly to either repeal or review the state’s chieftaincy laws by adding the phrase ‘except the Sultan of Sokoto’ to Section 6, Cap 26 of the Laws of Northern Nigeria which empowers the state governor to depose the emirs including the Sultan.
