Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III has described politics in this country as a war, families are being divided and friends become enemies just because they are seeking for political office.
The Sultan made this statement during President Goodluck Jonathan’s visit. The President’s campaign entourage was in Sokoto state yesterday.
The Sultan said “We are very worried what we see in newspapers, watch on television and hear comments from our people, brothers and friends.
“Politics of this country have now been turned into a war, families are being divided, and friends have become enemies just because of seeking for political office.”
He also told the President that he will not vote come next month because he doesn’t have Permanent Voter Cards, he said “Let us respect people’s wishes; let’s not try to disenfranchise anybody.
“We have had issues of the Permanent Voter Cards and I want to tell you that even myself, I don’t have a PVC, so it means I will not vote on February 14.
“So, we have to look for a way out, it is for your government to now look for what to do, how to ensure that all the cards get to the voters before the voting day or in the alternative, find a way out because for any problem there is a solution.
“We believe you will find a solution as regard this very serious hitch facing us because millions of Nigerians seem to be heading towards disenfranchisement and they won’t be able to vote. I have heard comments from the INEC Chairman, (Prof. Attahiru Jega), but we are still waiting for our cards to come.”
He advocated the need for issue based campaigns because currently religion has been brought into campaigns, he said “The whole politicking had been turned into either religion or ethnic matters and this should not be so because we see what happens across the world.
“We are worried because religion had been brought into it, we made it very clear in 2011, there is no way religion should be part of the election campaigns or even the election itself.
“As you have seen here, I think there are more Muslims in this room than Christians and coming here now to come for prayers for success of your campaigns goes to show that as the leader of the Muslims, I have no choice than to pray for you.”
The Sultan reminded the President about the need to find permanent solutions to the problem of insecurity and unemployment.
He said “On insecurity issues facing us in all parts of country, we have heard campaign promises left, right and centre but we want to hear from our political leaders, how do you intend to resolve the security issues? How do you intend to tackle unemployment? How do you intend to tackle the rot in education?
“These are issues that should concern the various political leaders instead of mudslinging, calling each other names and whatever.”
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