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Vice President Kashim Shettima and the Peoples Democratic Party, on Monday, cautioned against an alleged plot to remove the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, by the Sokoto State government.
The state government, however, denied any plan to dethrone the monarch, describing the allegation as false.
The state Commissioner for Information, Sambo Danchadi, explained that the law guiding the appointment of traditional rulers in the state had not been changed.
Against the backdrop of the removal of the Emir of Kano, Ado Bayero, by the Kano State governor in May, the Executive Director of the Muslim Rights Council, Prof. Isiaq Akintola, on Monday, raised the alarm that the Sokoto government was planning to depose the Sultan.
He cited the removal of 15 traditional rulers for various offences by the state Governor, Ahmed Aliyu, in April.
Akintola, in a statement, said Nigerian Muslims would reject any hostile actions against Sultan, who is the Nigerian Muslim spiritual leader.
The Islamic group also expressed concern over “the sour relationship between the governor and the Sultan.”
It asked the governor to exercise restraint and not tamper with the traditional institution.
The organisation 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.
“Therefore, 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.”
Commenting on the purported removal plot, Shettima described the Sultanate as an institution that must be jealously guarded and protected.
Speaking at the ongoing North-West Peace and Security Summit in Katsina State, Shettima told the Sokoto government that the Sultan is much more than a monarch, saying that he represents an idea.
The Vice President said, “In all developmental issues in this country, His Eminence, the Sultan of Sokoto, I want to use him as a point of reference to recognise and appreciate all our royal fathers present here.
“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, he is an institution that all of us in this country need to jealousy guard, protect, promote, preserve and project for the growth of our nation.”
In his reaction to MURIC’s claim, the Sokoto State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party warned the state government not to attempt to sack Abubakar from office.
Stating it would resist any attempt to remove the Sultan, the party’s spokesman, Hassan Sanyinnawal, said the PDP was reviewing the recent removal of some district heads and might go to court.
“I want to urge the state government not to make any attempts to sack the Sultan from office. We know it was part of their slogan during the campaign that ‘new governor, new Sultan’; they should drop the idea.
“The Sultan of Sokoto is not just a traditional ruler but also the leader of Muslim Ummah in the country, therefore, any attempt to remove him will be resisted by every Nigerian.
“Already, we are looking at the recent removal of some of the district heads and our lawyer may still have to challenge that. We don’t want anything to disrupt our traditional institutions in the state.
“We heard that the attorney general is submitting a bill to the state Assembly to transfer the power to nominate a traditional ruler or district head from the Sultan to the governor. We will resist it by all legal means,” Sanyinnawal said.
A chieftain of the PDP, Yusuf Dingyadi, urged the governor not to cause chaos in the state.
Dingyadi, who is a special assistant to the national chairman of the PDP, said the current administration should not embark on something that could upend the peace in the state.
He noted, “Sultanate is an institution, it reflects our dignity and religious identity for almost hundreds of years after the Jihad of Sheikh Danfodio. It is the custodian of the heritage and Muslim Ummah in the country and beyond.
“Sultan Abubakar is not just a traditional ruler but also a Muslim leader and national leader, so anybody who thinks he wants to remove the Sultan because he hates the occupant of the seat should drop the idea because it will be resisted by all the Muslims in the country.”
But the information commissioner, Danchadi, dismissed the alleged removal plot, describing it as “the imagination of MURIC and the opposition in the state.’’
He said, “The statement is just an imagination of the writer and even the opposition party in the state who are capitalising on the situation in Kano.
“It is true that we are streamlining the traditional law and very soon you will hear from the Assembly when the bill is laid on the table of the House.
“Concerning those traditional rulers they were talking about, there was nothing like removal but we just made an amendment and ensure that those who are supposed to be there are given the position.’
“The law on traditional rulers’ appointment in the state has not changed; it is the traditional council that nominates while the government only approves their nomination.
“They are only using what happens in Kano to raise tension in the state, but I can assure you that the government has no intention of such.
“Our streamline of traditional rulers law has nothing to do with the Sultanate seat. So, no cause for tension whatsoever.”
