By Jide Ajani

Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Saad  Abubakar, has declared that politicians have failed the people of Nigeria just as he maintained that politicians sometimes create crises and give them religious colouration.

The Sultan also said the issue of Islamic fundamentalism and the crises in the country  associated with it can be traced to the activities of politicians who arm and give the youths money to create crises.

Abubakar, however, noted that the fundamentalists are in the minority.

He spoke yesterday on a Cable News Network, CNN, programme African Voices. Islamic fundamentalism has, of late, been a sore point in the polity with the Boko Haram sect, opposed to western education, unleashing terror in some parts of the North, particularly in Borno and Bauchi states.

•    Scores of lives have been lost to the group’s activities including high profile politicians and law enforcement agents.  Only last week, a cleric who was gunned down in Maiduguri, Borno State, capital, became the latest victim of Boko Haram.

•    Speaking on the fundamentalists, the Sultan said:

”Every where you have bad eggs who do not agree with what you are doing but they are always in the minority; so you don’t have much problem but the majority are the ones that matter. The majority are the ones who really matter and we are the majority”.

Responding to a question on the role of politicians and the failure to engage constructive development of the nation, he said: ”If you say politicians have failed them, then you are quite right ”The politicians are the ones who even arm these people. ” They give them money. ” They arm them. ”But like I’ve said, they are in the minority.” The majority of us are peace loving and we are out for a peace-loving Nigeria”.

Asked if traditional rulers have also failed the young men who are involved in Islamic fundamentalism, the Sultan gave an emphatic “NO” response.

The Sultan re-affirmed that the traditional institution has not failed the people.

On the issue of religious crisis, he admitted thus: ”There could be a few cases of religious crises in some places but most of the crises we have in this country (that some people link to religion) are not religious.  They are politically motivated and given the colouration of religion”.

Abubakar said he was “very concerned about recent developments whereby politicians use people to create crises and then try to link it with religion.  I am very concerned about that.

Even when the president called us to have a talk with us, I brought it up that politicians should have

issue-related campaigns and not about personalities or ethnicity and I have always made it clear that no Christian politician can win an (presidential) election with purely Christian votes and no Muslim politician can win with purely Muslim votes.  Nigeria’s population is divided between both religions.

”I cannot force you to accept my religion, the Almighty said so in the Quoran.  You go your way I go my way and these two ways lead to the Almighty.  It is for the Almighty to determine which of these two ways is better to get through to Him and that is not for you and I; so there should be no problem of converting people by force.  We preach peace always”.