The Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammad Abubakar III, has on Thursday cried out about the hardship being faced by Nigerians.
Speaking in Abuja during the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council meeting he noted that hunger was killing the people more than the dreaded coronavirus.
The meeting was attended by the Secretary to Government of the Federation, Mr Boss Gidahyelda Mustapha.
Speaking on the theme of the meeting, ‘Together, we can grow peace for the Nation,’ the Sultan warned that “no individual or religion would be spared should the country be torn apart.”
He said, “There is a very serious virus that is killing people much higher than coronavirus. That virus is hunger; there is hunger virus and it’s very serious. You need to go round the country into the villages, into the towns and see how people are really struggling to survive.”
According to the Sultan, who is the Co-Chairman of NIREC, there was no such thing as persecution of Christians in Nigeria as alleged by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and other Christian bodies.
According to The Punch, he went on to note that Nigerian Muslims were also being killed in high numbers by terrorists and bandits.
“For me, there is no persecution of anybody in this country because if you say there is the persecution of Christians, there is also persecution of Muslims but that will not solve the problem.”
Abubakar hit out at the CAN leadership, emphasising that there was solidarity and devotion to addressing the nation’s challenges during Cardinal John Onaiyekan time as the President of the Christian body.
The CAN President and Co-Chairman of NIREC, Rev Samson Ayokunle, stressed the need for Nigerians to retrace their steps back to God “if the issues bedevilling the country must be solved.”
The CAN President was represented by the President, Organisation of African Instituted Church, Napo Emuchay.
Napo said, “The way out is for us to go back to contrition; we have to change from a life of sin to righteousness, so let’s come back to God in contrition. If we forsake wickedness in its entirety, our nation will be saved.”
The SGF in his statements advised religious heads to “desist from propagating narratives capable of plunging the nation into a major crisis that would further tear the country apart.”
