The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar wants Nigerians to reject those he calls bad people in next year’s elections.

The Sultan, speaking at a luncheon in his honour, yesterday, at Okuku, the country home of Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola of Osun State stressed that Nigerians must get the next elections right.

“Let me say this: as we approach the 2011 elections, Nigerians must reject bad people. I believe we have more good people than bad people in this country. We must elect good people to lead us out of the woods in 2011”, he said, on the last of his three day visit to the state.

Sultan Abubakar described Nigeria’s unity as sacrosanct even as he lauded traditional rulers across the country for being the building blocks of peace in the country.

All stakeholders, he said, “must must do everything to maintain the unity of this country. We must stick together as one at all times. Politicians come and go with their political talks but traditional rulers remain. We should be stronger, more united to serve our people better”.

Expressing gratitude to Governor Oyinlola, the people of Osun state as well as Obas in the state led by the Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuade, for the warm reception accorded him, the Sultan said he had known Oyinlola since 1978 when the Governor was his commander and he, second in Command.

Oyinlola in his address stressed the need for all to ensure that the nation was not unduly traumatised by politicians as the nation votes next year.

“As we approach another election there is a lot traditional rulers could do to ensure stability. Nothing should be done to heat up the polity, “ Oyinlola said.

“When politicians must have messed up everything, the next port of call are the traditional rulers. I therefore believe that we must not wait for trouble to come before we go to them,” Oyinlola said.

Earlier on Thursday, Prince Oyinlola also described the Sultan as a very hard working person who was known as “multi-purpose officer” in the army because of his versatility and resilience in handling difficult assignments.

The Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade canvassed unity among the different ethnic groups in the country even as he lauded the Sultan for being nationalistic in his outlook.