The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar, on Thursday, lamented over the high rate of insecurity that has plagued the North stating that it was the worst place to live in in Nigeria.
He made this known at the fourth quarterly meeting of the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council in Abuja, revealing that that these bandits go around unchallenged as they visit the market, buy foodstuffs and collect their balance in the full gear of the security agencies.
The Sultan disclosed that most Northerners sleep with their eyes half closed as these bandits now move from house to house with their AK-47 rifles.
The meeting which had as its theme, ‘Questioning for peace in the challenges of insecurity and COVID-19’ has the Sultan bitterly complain that the security system in the North has totally collapsed.
He said, “Security situation in Northern Nigeria has assumed a worrisome situation. Few weeks ago, over 76 persons were killed in a community in Sokoto in a day. I was there with the governor to commiserate with the affected community.
“Unfortunately, you don’t hear these stories in the media because it’s in the North. We have accepted the fact that the North does not have strong media to report the atrocities of these bandits.
“People think North is safe but that assumption is not true. In fact, it’s the worst place to be in this country because bandits go around in the villages, households and markets with their AK 47 and nobody is challenging them.
“They stop at the market, buy things, pay and collect change, with their weapons openly displayed. These are facts I know because I am at the centre of it.
“I am not only a traditional ruler, I am also a religious leader. So, I am in a better place to tell the story. I can speak for the North in this regard because I am fully aware of the security challenges there. We have to sincerely and seriously find solutions to the problem, otherwise, we will find ourselves soon, in a situation where we would lose sleep because of insecurity.”
