The Sokoto government has denied allegations by the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) that it is plotting to depose His Eminence, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III.
In a swift reaction on Tuesday, the state Commissioner for Information and Societal Reorientation, Hon. Sambo Bello Danchadi, stated that the state government has no plan to dethrone the revered monarch. Danchadi described MURIC’s allegation as false and baseless.
Danchadi explained that the law guiding the appointment and disposition of traditional rulers in the state has neither been changed nor repealed.
On Monday, the Executive Director of MURIC, Prof. Isiaq Akintola, raised alarm, claiming that the Sokoto state government was plotting to depose the Sultan, against the backdrop of recent events in Kano. MURIC cited the removal of 15 traditional rulers for various offenses as part of this alleged plot.
Prof. Akintola warned that the Muslim Ummah in Nigeria would reject and resist any hostile actions against the Sultan, who serves as the spiritual leader of all Muslims in Nigeria. The organization expressed concern over the alleged sour relationship between the state government and the Sultan.
MURIC emphasized that the Sultan’s position is both traditional and religious, noting that he also serves as the head of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs. The group warned the Sokoto governor not to “force Nigerian Muslims to take drastic revolutionary measures.”
The statement from MURIC read: “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.”
Vice President Kasheem Shettima, reacting to MURIC’s alarm, stated that the Sultan is an institution that must be guarded and jealously protected by all Muslims.
