Vice President Kashim Shettima says the throne of the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III is an institution that must be jealously guarded and protected.
The Vice President stated this at the North-West Peace and Security Summit in Katsina State on Monday.
There have been rumours that the administration of Governor Ahmed Aliyu of Sokoto State allegedly plot to depose the Sultan and some traditional rulers in the state.
Specifically, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) had earlier said there were “feelers” that the Sokoto State Government was planning to dethrone the Sultan.
MURIC therefore asked Gov Aliyu to exercise restraint and not tamper with the traditional institution.
In a statement on Monday signed by Ishaq Akintola, founder and executive director of MURIC, the Islamic group cited the dethronement of 15 traditional rulers by the state governor in April 2024.
MURIC also “expressed concern over the sour relationship between the governor and the Sultan”.
The organisation said the pedestal of the Sultan of Sokoto is not only traditional but also religious, adding that the Sultan doubles as the head of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA).
The group warned the Sokoto governor not to “force Nigerian Muslims to take a drastically revolutionary measure”.
“However, 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,” the statement reads.
“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 (NSCIA).”
However, the Vice President in a swift response while speaking after the Sultan at the Monday event, said the Sultan is not just a monarch in the North-West state but an institution that must be protected.
Specifically addressing the Deputy Governor of Sokoto State, Idris Gobir, who was present at the event, 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.”
