Treat Monarch’s Killers as Criminals, Says Sultan

  •   Criticises the media over reports

Seriki Adinoyi in Jos

The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Mohammed Sa’ád Abubakar III, has commiserated with the traditional council, the government and people of Plateau State on the murder of the Saf Ron Kulere, Lazarus Agai, describing the perpetrators as criminals who must be treated as such.

He has, however, criticised the way journalists reported the murder of the monarch in which they attributed his murder to herdsmen who people always believe to be Fulani men, noting: “Whoever carried out the dastardly killing should be treated as criminals”.

The Sultan, who condemned the violent killing of Agai, whom he repeatedly referred to as “our brother”, was in Jos with some members of Northern traditional rulers committee on Primary Healthcare for a meeting.

Abubakar, who described Agai’s death as shocking, lamented: “The press just jumped into conclusion that he was killed by herdsmen without waiting for the police to investigate. Whoever did that is a criminal and he must be fished out and dealt with. That is why we should all resolve to come together, whenever a crime is committed by anybody, whoever that person is, let us call him a criminal and we all come together and bring that person out and deal with him, no matter how big he thinks he is, no matter which tribe he belongs to, no matter which religion he professes.”

He said when people belt themselves up with explosives going to a crowd to kill people in the name of a religion, “we always condemn them that no, they are not representing that religion and these people are a very minute number or percentage Muslims or Christians or whatever it is anywhere. The majority of us are peace–loving. Let us come together against those few elements that are very bad, whether they are herdsmen, whether they are miners, whether they are farmers, whether they are whatever, they should not take laws into their hands.

“We should come together and fish them out because they are within us and we know them. So, if you know somebody, let us bring him out. Don’t hind him. That is where traditional institution comes in. That is why we have to sit down as traditional leaders, find ways and means and go back to those year’s where there was peace in our domains, when if any visitor came to town, no matter how late, by early hours of the morning, the traditional leader of the town would know that there was a new face in town.”

Responding to Sultan’s address in his palace, the Gbong Gwom Jos, Da Jocob Gyang Buba, also condoled with the people and government of the state and the deceased family.

On security, which he said should be everybody’s business, he urged all to accept that “in one way or another, we have contributed to the present criminal decadence and the solution lies in our collective responsibility and engage in collaboration not only with the traditional leaders all over the country but with the security agencies and government accordingly.”
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