By Muhammad M. Garba
Assembly of Concerned Kubwa-Abuja-based Muslims, under the Chairmanship of Alhaji Umar Abubakar, has called on the Sultan to choose between being either the Sultan of Sokoto, or the Sultan of Nigeria.
Alhaji Abubakar told Palace Monitor in an exclusive chat in Abuja recently that he had for long been wondering why the Sultan of Sokoto whose authority is openly limited to Sokoto but has been piloting affairs of the entire Nigerian Muslims and thereby playing the role of Sultan of Nigeria.
“Agreed, he is the President of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), just like his counterpart, the CAN President, who is the leader of Nigerian Christians, but while the CAN Presidency is an elected and rotational position, the Presidency of the NSCIA is permanently an exclusive right of only but a Sultan who must always come from Sokoto.
Alhaji Abubakar therefore opined that if the synonyms of Sultan are – king, monarch, sovereign, majesty, ruler, head or emperor, which are known universally as titles of a Country’s Supreme Religious Leader, as it is in Saudi Arabia, Oman, Jordan, Brunei, etc. he should therefore be the Sultan of Nigeria and not Sultan of Sokoto.
For the Sultan to continue to play the role he has been playing as the Sultan of Nigeria, a role that is however only limited to the announcement of the sighting of Islamic month, I think he should persuade the Federal government and the National Assembly to, officially, make him a national Sultan a national King or Monarch to be embraced and respected by entire Nigerian Muslims.