Sokoto governor denies plan to depose Sultan

Sokoto governor Aliyu Sokoto has denied allegations by MURIC that it’s plotting to depose His Eminence the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III.

Recall that the Executive Director of the Muslim Rights Council MURIC, Prof. Isiaq Akintola, on Monday, raised alarm that, the Sokoto state government was plotting to depose His Eminence the Sultan of Sokoto against the backdrop of the happenings in Kano.

MURIC in a statement cited the removal of 15 traditional rulers for various offences.

Prof Akintola, in a statement further warned that Muslim Ummah in Nigeria would reject and resist any hostile actions against the Sultan, who happened to be the spiritual leader of all Muslims in Nigeria.

The Islamic organization however expressed concern over the alleged sour relationship between the state government and the Sultan.

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The organization said the pedestal of the Sultan of Sokoto was not only traditional but also religious, noting that the Sultan doubles as the head of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs.

The group warned the Sokoto governor not to “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,” says MURIC.

Vice President Kasheem Shettima while reacting to the alarm raised by MURIC on the alleged planned dethronement of the Sultan by Sokoto by the state government said the Sultan is an institution that must be guarded and jealously protected by all Muslims.

He said the Sultan and other traditional rulers in the country need to be “promoted and preserved”.

“In all developmental issues in this country, His Eminence, the Sultan of Sokoto, I want to use him as a point of reference to recognize and appreciate all our royal fathers present here,” Shettima said.

“And to the deputy governor of Sokoto, I have a simple message for you. Yes, the Sultan is the Sultan of Sokoto, but he is much more than that; he represents an idea