Nigeria won’t split despite ethnic tensions – Sultan of Sokoto

    

The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, has expressed optimism that Nigeria will remain an indivisible country despite the violent clashes between suspected Fulani cattle breeders and land owners across the country as well as the agitation for secession by some ethnic groups.
Insisting that “Nigeria will not divide,” the President-General of the Jama’atul Nasir Islam, JNI however, challenged the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, to step up its unifying role against the backdrop of the various ethnic tensions in the country.
A statement issued in Abuja on Tuesday evening by the spokesperson of the NYSC, Mrs. Abosede Aderibigbe, reports that the Sultan made this known during a courtesy call on him by the Director-General, D-G, of the NYSC, Brig. Gen. Sule Kazaure, at his palace.

   The Sultan was quoted as saying, “We believe in Nigeria; we believe we can build it together irrespective of our diverse ethnic backgrounds. The two major religions teach us to be our brothers’ keeper.

“Here in Sokoto, we will continue to do what is right; we will continue to be hospitable to everyone irrespective of what happens elsewhere. Other states should replicate what we do here and the ethnic tensions won’t split our country.”
Speaking earlier, the new NYSC D-G commended the monarch for his support for the NYSC, adding that he was in the palace to seek royal blessings, and to canvass for the sustenance of the cordial relationship between the NYSC and the Sultanate Council.