Stop blaming herdsmen for every attack – Sultan

* Muslims are more marginalized

The Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, has advised Nigerians to stop associating religion with anything negative in the country. He also said that Muslims felt more marginalized in the country, only that they were not complaining.

His words: “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 there are many people from other religion and tribes manning other offices.

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.

“If criminals are doing bad things, they are criminals and they can be found anywhere, in any religion and tribe. Therefore don’t add religious or tribal toga to any act of terrorism. Fulani men are only after their cattle not after any government or its policies and programmes. How can they carry weapons, to go and do what with it?,” he queried.

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 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.”