The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar, has said that the security situation in the North has become so terrible that bandits now operate freely.
He said they move about undisguised, buying things in the market without any fear, adding that the North had become the worst place to live in the country.
“People think North is safe but that assumption is not true. In fact, it’s the worst place to be in this country because bandits go around in the villages, households and markets with their AK 47 and nobody is challenging them.
“They stop at the market, buy things, pay and collect change, with their weapons openly displayed. These are facts, I know because I am at the centre of it,” the Sultan said.
He expressed the concern on Thursday during the fourth quarterly meeting of the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council in Abuja, said bandits were fast overrunning the North as residents slept with their eyes open.
It held under the theme, ‘Questioning for peace in the challenges of insecurity and COVID-19.’
According to him, the security situation in the North has collapsed and he knows this because he is deeply involved in the lives of the people.
“Security situation in Northern Nigeria has assumed a worrisome situation. Few weeks ago, over 76 persons were killed in a community in Sokoto in a day. I was there with the governor to commiserate with the affected community.
“Unfortunately, you don’t hear these stories in the media because it’s in the North. We have accepted the fact that the North does not have strong media to report the atrocities of these bandits.
“I am not only a traditional ruler, I am also a religious leader. So, I am in a better place to tell the story. I can speak for the North in this regard because I am fully aware of the security challenges there. We have to sincerely and seriously find solutions to the problem, otherwise, we will find ourselves soon, in a situation where we would lose sleep because of insecurity,” the Sultan explained.
