MURIC insists there are plots to depose Sultan of Sokoto, warns governor

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), has insisted that there are plots to depose the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, despite the denial of the state government on the purported plans.

MURIC, in a statement by its Executive Director, Prof. Ishaq Akintola, had on Monday, raised the alarm that the Sokoto State government was making secret plans to depose the Sultan and warned of the grave consequences such action would bring.

“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,” MURIC had said.

But while denying the allegations, the state Commissioner for Information and Societal Reorientation, Hon. Sambo Bello Danchadi, said in a statement that the state government has no plan whatsoever to dethrone the Sultan, and described the allegation by MURIC as false and baseless.

But in another statement on Wednesday, Akintola insisted that the Sultan is still being targeted for deposition.

He noted that a bill called the Sokoto Emirate Council Amendment Bill has passed through the first and second readings and if passed into law, the Sultan of Sokoto will be stripped of certain powers.

Akintola said the amendment of the bill was condemnable as it waz an attempt to diminish the influence of the Sultan.

“There are reports that the Sokoto State House of Assembly is currently rushing through a bill called the Emirate Council Amendment Bill. The bill has passed through the first and second readings within a very short period,” he said in the statement.

“If passed into law, the Sultan of Sokoto will be stripped of certain powers, including appointing the kingmakers and district heads without government approval.

“This bill is outrageous, despicable and anachronistic. It is a direct attack on the traditional institution of Sokoto State. Instead of entrenching the powers of the Sultan, it is an undisguised attempt at weakening his powers and making him less relevant in the scheme of traditional settings,” Akintola added.

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