Sultan of Sokoto meets Northern Governors over Southern Kaduna Crisis

Sa’ad Abubakar, the Sultan of Sokoto on Monday met with governors and traditional rulers in the North over the crisis that has hit Southern Kaduna.

Sultan Abubakar while speaking at the opening ceremony on Monday at Sir Kashim Ibrahim House , Kaduna condemned the preaching of violence in places of worship.

The Sultan also said impunity was one of the reasons for the widespread of violence in the region.

“Let us collectively as one people say enough is enough,” the Sultan added.

Kashim Shettima, Governor of Borno State and Chairman of the Northern State Governors Forum said the southwest and southeast have remained comparatively more prosperous.

“Some may argue that theirs are societies with common tribes while ours in northern Nigeria, is the multi-ethnic reality of the African mix, as some researchers call it. This African-mix is ordinarily a comparative advantage and we can make it so.

“Poverty, Poverty and I say again, poverty, is to many of us, the number one monster dragging backward, our Northern Nigeria

“For instance, in June, 2013, we recorded a good number of extremely poor persons, who were recruited for as little as N5,000 to either spy on soldiers and report their vulnerability to insurgents, attack and set schools ablaze by late night or in some cases, poor old women were paid similar amounts by insurgents, to either keep arms in their huts or smuggle arms from one point to another.

“One case I always remember is that of one Musa Grema, a 13 year old boy who revealed that he accepted N5,000 to set three of our primary schools ablaze and also spy on soldiers, because his parents relied on him for their feeding,” he said.

Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai said the traditional rulers are in the best position to resolve the crisis, as they are closest to the grassroots.