The Sultan of Sokoto and President in council of the Jama'atu Nasril Islam (JNI), Alhaji Mohammad Sa'ad Abubakar III, yesterday lamented the security challenges facing the north, declaring that enough of the bloodshed.

The call by Abubakar however came on a day the chairman of the South-east Governors’ Forum and Anambra State Governor, Mr. Peter Obi, reviewed the state of affairs in Nigeria and came up with a damning verdict that the present crop of leaders have failed the people.

But Abubakar, while addressing the Central Council meeting of the JNI in Kaduna, said the north could not continue on this destructive path and called for efforts aimed at ensuring peace and stability.
He said the increasing level of insecurity was slowly tearing apart the fabric of religious, social and economic life in the region.

“Each and every one of us must come to appreciate that we cannot continue on this destructive path. We must open active, meaningful and sincere channels of dialogue and communication to ensure that we listen to those who have real grievances and to take genuine efforts to address them.

“We must not relent in our efforts for the search of peace and security within our society. The current level of insecurity in the Northern states is not only a source of worry and concern to all of us but is also slowly but surely tearing apart the fabric of our religious, social and economic life,” he said.

Besides, the Sultan said the north must come back to its senses and declare firmly that enough is enough of the bloodshed.

The Sultan declared that the muslim Ummah must be resolute and stand against those who take advantage of this unfortunate situation to wreak havoc in the society in pursuit of their narrow interests.

According to him, “Allah (SWT) is never indifferent to the plight of his servants and will definitely put to shame those who seek to violate the honor and sanctity of Muslims.

“The prosperity of the state must translate into the prosperity of the entire populace, it shall not be the exclusive preserve of the few who happen to have access to state resources. The current level of poverty, especially in the Northern states cannot be acceptable in any decent society.
“We must all work together to build viable community organisations to ensure that no man, woman or child is left to go to bed hungry regardless of his or her status and no individual is deprived of a decent education or access to a functional health facility regardless of his or her economic circumstances,” he said.

Meanwhile, Obi while delivering the keynote address at the NGF Governance Share Fair in Enugu, noted that things had gone “completely” wrong in the country.

Obi, who is also the Vice-Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), said the only way to make a change remains to do things differently, adding that for Nigeria to achieve meaningful development and good governance, Nigerians must avail themselves of scrutiny.

He said: “We in Anambra State want to learn. That is why the process of Peer Review Mechanism came and we embraced it. This one came and we embraced it. We have failed as a people. That is why what Governors Forum is doing is commendable.”

While commending the organisers, NGF and United Kingdom Department for International Development, for trying to build a good Nigeria, Obi appealed to the state governments to avail themselves of processes of learning like the Peer Review Mechanism and Governance Share Fair.

The NGF Director General, Asishana Okauru, described the Fair as a collaborative effort of NGF and the UK DFID/SPARC, and envisaged to create a friendly market place for states to showcase their achievements and learn from each other.
Okauru said the Forum has become more focused on policy priorities calculated to reduce poverty, enhance development and generally create better connection between government and the citizenry.

The NGF boss advocated that government officials at the sub-national level must be encouraged to imbibe this new approach to enable states to achieve their development objectives.

He said: “It is precisely for this reason the NGF secretariat is involved in a number of initiatives aimed at improving governance through sharing of knowledge.”

Okauru recalled that the Forum recently launched a robust Knowledge Management System, which is envisaged to strengthen the capacity of NGF secretariat as a knowledge-disseminating organisation.

“Also, a machinery for states to peer review themselves has also been set up, which Anambra is clearly in the lead, has shown leadership, a lot of promise and very fascinating results,” Okauru added.

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/violence-enough-s-enough-says-sultan/116558/

Its too little too late I'm afraid. The almajiris don't listen to the sultan anymore! At least his influence can't be compared to the way it was. Islamist fundamentalists are officially out of control and they armed and funded silly. if this country is to divide, the far north will be torn between traditional instutions like the caliphate and the islamist fundamentalists led by boko haram.

Sadly enough, a similar scenario is threatening to play out in the south south where you have a tompolo who is now co-chief of naval staff.

Did I hear the ticking of a time bomb?