Jonathan Nwokpor
As claimed by the Muslim Rights Council, or MURIC, the Sokoto State Government has denied any involvement in a plot to overthrow His Eminence, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III.
In response to the accusation on Tuesday, the state’s Commissioner for Information and Societal Reorientation, Hon. Sambo Bello Danchadi, declared that the state administration had no intention of overthrowing the esteemed monarch and called MURIC’s claim unfounded.
According to the statement, “The state government wondered how a responsible body like MURIC, claiming to be protecting the rights of the Muslims would descend so low and cheaply as to join hands with deluded mischief makers and enemies of progress to fabricate such a false and unsubstantiated story just to create an unfriendly atmosphere and fear in the minds of the law-abiding and peaceful citizens of the state.
“We believe that MURIC is not the type that will be dancing to the tunes of enemies and mischief makers who are trying to take away the attention of the good people of Sokoto state and Nigerians on the transformative initiatives taking place in Sokoto State over the last one year.
“We also like to assure MURIC that the present administration, just like the previous administrations in the state, cherishes and respects the Sultanate Council long before MURIC was established.”
Sambo emphasised that the legislation governing the selection and removal of the state’s traditional rulers had not been altered or even opposed.
In light of the events in Kano, the ZINGTIE recalls that on Monday, Prof. Isiaq Akintola, the Executive Director of the Muslim Rights Council (MURIC), voiced concerns over a scheme by the Sokoto state administration to remove His Eminence the Sultan of Sokoto.
The organisation mentioned the removal of fifteen traditional rulers for various crimes in a statement.
In a statement, Akintola issued more warnings, stating that the Sultan, who also served as the spiritual head of all Muslims in Nigeria, would face opposition and rejection from the Muslim Ummah in that country.
Nonetheless, the Islamic group voiced worries about the supposed tense relationship between the Sultan and the state government.
The group noted that the Sultan of Sokoto is the head of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs and claimed that the Sultan’s eminence was traditional and religious.
The group advised the governor of Sokoto not to use “force Nigerian Muslims to take a drastically revolutionary measure.”
It said, “Feelers in circulation indicate that the governor may descend on the Sultan of Sokoto any moment from now using any of the flimsy excuses used to dethrone the 15 traditional rulers whom he removed earlier.
“MURIC advises the governor to look before he leaps. The Sultan’s stool is not only traditional, it is also religious. In the same vein, his jurisdiction goes beyond Sokoto. It covers the whole of Nigeria. He is the spiritual head of all Nigerian Muslims.
“Any governor who tampers with the stool of the Sultan will have Nigerian Muslims to reckon with because the Sultan combines the office of the Sultan of Sokoto and that of the President General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs,” MURIC said.
Vice President Kasheem Shettima responded to MURIC’s concern on the purportedly planned overthrow of the Sultan by the state government in Sokoto, stating that the Sultan is an institution that all Muslims must fiercely defend.
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