The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, has expressed concerns about the effectiveness of intelligence gathering by security agencies in Nigeria amid the persistent attacks on communities across the nation.
Speaking in Bauchi state on Wednesday, December 27, the monarch highlighted that bandits and other criminal elements outpace security agencies in intelligence gathering.
He urged the military and other security forces to enhance their intelligence capabilities. The Sultan strongly condemned the recent attack by gunmen in Plateau State, which resulted in the tragic loss of over 100 lives and numerous injuries. He called upon security agencies to proactively work towards preventing such attacks in the future.
“We only condemned such things, but after charging such activities by these bandits and criminals, what next? What should the rest of the government do to protect our lives and property? Why do we keep on having these deaths? The Tudun Biri incident is still fresh with us, and now the incident is on the Plateau.
Why can’t you be proactive to stop such attacks before they happen? What happened to our intelligence-gathering mechanism? Are you telling me that nobody knew about such attacks? In various places, whether in Sokoto, Kebbi, Kaduna, or anywhere else, have we lost our sense of gathering information to avert any such critical loss? We must ask our government to be up and doing because these bandits are always a step ahead.” he said
Expressing concern over the politicization of insecurity in the country, the Sultan emphasized that it is not a matter of religion but rather a leadership issue.
“We are all in one big country where we have poverty. Yes, Muslims, Christians, and even those who don’t have religion go to the same market, and they buy the same foodstuff, enter the same vehicles, and pay the same fares. So, it is not the issue of religion; let’s not tell ourselves that anybody is planning anything against Muslims or Christians. No, it is the leadership issue, and I have said many times that let’s have confidence that something will change within the next few months.”
