Mohammed Aminu in Sokoto
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo yesterday said the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Mohammed Abubakar III, is a worthy scion of his fore bearers, saying justice is key to societal progress and transformation.
Osinbajo made the remarks at an international symposium on the Sokoto Caliphate held at the auditorium of the Umaru Ali Shinkafi Polytechnic, Sokoto organized as part of the activities to mark the monarch’s 10th anniversary on the throne.
He harped on the need for social justice, stressing that injustice always lead to chaos and anarchy.
He urged leaders to always protect public treasuries and not to loot them, adding that corruption only destroy the future of the most vulnerable.
‘’Leadership is a privilege and the leaders must set moral and ethical tones for the society. It is the duty of leaders to protect and not to loot public resources.
“Nations thrive when they uphold values of honesty, integrity and hard work and disintegrate when they ignore these values,” he said.
According to him, the Sokoto Caliphate was founded over 200 years ago on the sterling principles of honesty, piety and good governance.
‘’The intellectual endeavours of the founding fathers of the caliphate on theology and jurisprudence, among others, were relevant now as they were then.
“They had left legacies of wealth of resources in their books premised on the principles of good governance and social justice.”
He noted that the Sultan has continued in the path of his fore-fathers and that he came at a challenging time for Nigeria.
“Your 10 years on the throne has shown that you are in good standing with the people. You have worked hard to break down parochial barriers and your friendship with Christian leaders is worthy of note.
“You have witnessed perhaps some of the challenging times in the history of this nation and you handled them with pragmatism and wisdom,” Osinbajo averred.
In a remark, Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State, described the Sultan as an intellectually-endowed leader.
Tambuwal also commended the Sultan for his sustained moral support to his administration, adding, “you are not only a bridge builder, but the bridge itself.’’
Also speaking, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, advocated a national security summit of all stakeholders to brainstorm on most of the contemporary challenges affecting Nigeria.
He said this include insurgency, militancy, kidnappings, armed robbery, cattle rustling and farmers-herdsmen clashes, among others.
Abubakar stated that these burning issues should be discussed at the proposed summit, as they were threatening the corporate existence of Nigeria.
The monarch stressed the need for Nigerians to continue to live peacefully with one another irrespective of their various religious, political and ethnic leanings.
The Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammadu Sanusi II, said the symposium was organised to reflect on the past, ponder on the present and transform the future.
In his presentation, Professor Emeritus, University College, London, Prof. Murray Last, said the celebration of the Caliphate was to recognise its crucial importance.
‘’The caliphate has been an institution in Northern Nigeria that possess an extraordinary phenomenon. It has strengths which we need to understand, not as political scientists but as Nigerians.
“For without the caliphate, Nigeria might never have existed. It would have been more like Northern Ghana, Northern Cote d’Ivoire, a Burkina or a Mali.
“So celebrating the caliphate and recognising its importance is truly a great pleasure,” Last added.
