There is nothing like northernization in Nigeria – Sultan defends Buhari’s appointments

The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III has regretted the attitude of some Nigerians who politicize every action of government, adding that Nigerians should stop associating religion with anything negative in the country.

Speaking during a dinner organised for religious leaders, security agencies and media practitioners in his palace in Sokoto at the weekend, he lamented that anything negative was being attributed to Muslims, Fulani (herdsmen) and Hausa, even as there were other people committing heinous crimes elsewhere but were not linked to religion and ethnicity.

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 and we witness many Christian leaders who have visited Christian countries but nobody said they were planning to Christianize the country.”

The Sultan, who said that Nigeria was a beautiful country whose masses loved one another, blamed the elite for some of the country’s challenges, stressing that, “Whenever one loses power, he creates problem, and the masses are always at the receiving end.”