The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar 111, has tendered an apology to the Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwanu Akiolu, over the “protocol problem” barring him from entering the venue of the opening ceremony of the First Annual Conference of Ahlus Sunnah of Nigeria in Lagos yesterday .
Akiolu in the aftermath of the “protocol problem”, had to return to his palace and refused to attend the conference where the Vice President , Architect Muhammed Sambo was the Special Guest of Honour. Eyewitnesses told Sunday Mirror that the royal father was visibly angered by the situation.
Speaking while delivering his address on the occasion , the sultan said, “First, I will like to offer on behalf of the organisers of this conference, especially the chairman, our apology to the Oba of Lagos, the owner of Lagos, for the little protocol problem he encountered why he was trying to come to this hall even before I came and he had to go back to the palace.
“If I had my way, I would have gone back to the palace to bring him here because he is a very close brother with whom we shared so much together”. “So I believe this conference is to personally meet the Kabiyesi (Oba of Lagos) and explain to him what really happened. But he didn’t take it too much as a bad thing because he is back to the palace,” the Sultan said.
However, speaking further at the event, the Sultan said that the present problem of perceived instability in the country could be laid at the doorsteps of Nigerian politicians, saying the common men who in their millions formed the Republic of Nigeria do not have problem with each other.
The Sultan who was speaking at the event that has as theme, ‘Peace and Unity For Sustainable Development,” added that the main problem of the country are the politicians, stressing, “they are the ones who have been making it look like though in the next one minute, the country will explode”.
“While the common man is in his village herding his cows or his cattle or in his farm or doing a menial job to survive, the politicians who enjoy power will like to do whatever it takes to remain in power “, he said .
He blamed the tension in the country on the utterances of politicians, saying that they are the cause of tension in the country “and the best we can do as religious leaders is to continue calling on these politicians, either when they go to churches or when we as Muslims worship in our various mosques or preach sermons-like what we have in Lagos by this organization-that they should abide in the fear of Almighty Allah” He called on the clerics to come together to serve as guides to “these political leaders” , just as he urged the political leaders to always listen to the sermons preached by these clerics and imbibe the true teaching of Islam and Christianity and govern with the fear of Almighty Allah.
Also speaking on the occasion, a former military Head of State and Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, General Muhammadu Buhari, said Nigerian problem was caused by bad leadership .
According to him, what Nigeria needs now is to be properly secured and properly managed. “It is just a matter of bad leadership”, he said. He said all other problems facing the country come under the two major things- security and proper management. He prayed that the Almighty Allah would provide Nigeria with a leader that can deliver. Speaking also, the Vice-President, Architect Namadi Sambo, has said that no meaningful development can take place in the country without peace and security .
Sambo said: “No matter our best intention, development will continue to elude us if we fail to embrace peace and live in harmony with one another. We must strive to promote love and understanding among the people and to foster the bond of friendship and mutual trust and cooperation,” he said.
He said the present administration accords high premium to religion and that it is committed to intra and inter-faith dialogue and consultations as the only alternative to conflict resolution.
He said the recent anti-gay right bill , the bill against same-sex marriage that was signed by President Goodluck Jonathan into law has further demonstrated that religion has taken its proper place in our country .
“The high moral value of our society is rooted in our deep faith in religion and our rich tradition and cultural values. We have made great inroads in our quest to overcome the security challenges that we are confronted with especially insurgency in the north east” . Sambo said the government was “taking great care in tackling this new form of violence and unprovoked attack on citizens in order to protect the innocent persons from the harm that may come their way “.
Also delivering his lecture, the Osun State Governor , Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, who was the Special Guest Lecturer on the occasion harped on the need to curb intolerance of one another that usually leads to extremism, violence and breach of peace .
Aregbesola said Islam is a religion of peace and urged all adherents of the religion to live in peace with people of other religions . He warned that nobody should force his religion on another person.
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