Sultan asks Muslims to pray against killings

Former gov, Yero, unveils plan to tackle insecurity in Kaduna
Sultan of Sokoto and President General of Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI), Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar, has asked Muslims to hold prayers against banditry, insurgency and political rascality, describing supplication as the greatest weapon of adherents.

In a statement by Secretary General of JNI, Dr. Khalid Abubakar Aliyu, the Sultan told the government to brace-up to the challenges of good governance, noting that a day of reckoning is imminent.

He said: “To Muslims, Du’a (supplication) is absolutely necessary in all circumstances of our lives, especially in moments of grief, which we have now unfortunately found ourselves in Nigeria, as a result of our misdeeds, corruption and political recklessness and arrogance.

“The call for prayer has, for that reason, become necessary, as nothing is honourable before Allah but that His servants be humble and submissive through prayers to Him.

“The Sultan of Sokoto and President General, JNI, uses this medium to call on the Nigerian Muslim Ummah to engage in sustained supplications. This call has become imperative, bearing in mind that human lives have continued to be exterminated, even immolated unchallenged, as we saw in Beni-Sheikh, Kaga Local Council of Borno State and Gidan Bawa, Isa Local Council of Sokoto State.

“Muslims are, therefore, implored to fervently and faithfully resort to Allah, the Exceedingly Beneficent and Benevolently Merciful in the face of these calamities by engaging in obligatory and non-obligatory prayers, specifically to seek intervention from Allah.”

Meanwhile, a former Governor of Kaduna State, Ramallan Yero, pledged to stage a return, saying he would do so on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Yero, at the weekend, said the tenure of the incumbent All Progressives Congress (APC) Governor, Nasir el-Rufai, has been plagued by banditry and kidnapping.

He said: “I will contest the governorship election of Kaduna in 2023. I was there before. I was the one that handed the mantle of leadership to the current administration. The situation we are in, now, is bad. We know what was there. We know the challenges we had. We know the effort we put in stabilising the situation, and we also know what is currently happening, based on what these people are doing.”

He added: “Since I still have the opportunity to contest and serve the people of Kaduna, I felt that with the enormous knowledge and experience I have, and goodwill, and knowing that I still have something to offer, something to contribute for the betterment of our people in future, I will not be doing myself and the people of Kaduna State justice, if I do not show interest in becoming the governor of this state, not for myself, but for the people.”