By Gift Samuel, The Sight News
Abuja-The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III has warned Nigerians to desist from criminalizing a particular tribe, saying that if Nigerians want stability and peace in the country, then a criminal must be called a criminal regardless of tribe or personality.
This is as he urged citizens not to allow ethnicity or religion becloud their sense of judgement, to avoid making the same mistakes repeatedly.
The Sultan who made these remarks on Wednesday in Abuja at the Presentation of the book titled “Dynamics of Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences”, essays in honour of Professor Is-haq Olarenwaju Oloyede,the Registrar Joint Admission and Matriculation Board,(JAMB), described Oloyode as an honest, straight forward and incorruptible person who deserves to be celebrated and noted with dismay that Nigeria only celebrate innocent and honest people after their death.
While praising Prof. oloyede on his achievements as JAMB Registrar, the Sultan took a swipe at Nigerians for deciding to see the issue of the missing N36 million swallowed by a mysterious snake as being humorous.
“The snake issue has become a humorous thing that you see cartoons and postings about snake swallowing 36 million Naira, it is humorous yes, but it is a sad reality of our country, where is our moral value, how about our ethics and how can somebody just get up take government money and go away scot-free and no body challenges him, why do people do things with impunity?”
He further noted that reality is facing Nigeria and the earlier citizens wake up the better for the country. “Let’s not sink further, things are bad and corruption is at a very high level and it is left for us to fight it to a terminal end, we cannot just sit down and be thinking that things are okay, things are not okay. It is left for us to sit together to find out ways and means of getting things back on track in this blessed country” he said.
On the issue of the Fulani herdsmen clashes, he remarked, “Nowadays, the worst word you can hear is Fulani, there are millions of Fulani that don’t even know what is a cow but every body, when you see a Fulani man, he is a killer, it is not true. There are so many known Fulani that are hustling, millions of them.
“So to term a particular ethnicity as a criminal is wrong. There are criminals all over the world so let’s give criminals their due names, call them criminals, not Muslim criminals not Christian criminals not Fulani criminals not Yoruba criminals. Call them criminals and deal with them.When things are wrong, let’s say they are wrong and find solutions. If things are not right, we have to make amends and change. We have to always prick our conscience” he added.
In his welcome address, the Chairman Organizing Committee, Yahya Imam explained that the process of getting the book published took four years and the proceeds from the book presentation will be judiciously used to cater for the less privileged.
Furthermore, the Chief host,Vice Chancellor, University of Ilorin, Prof. Suleiman Abdulkareem in his address, described Professor Oloyede as a catalytic human being, very smart, loyal, a visionary person, very focused, meticulous, extremely energetic, extremely bold, honest and very Godfearing.
Also, the Chairman of the event, Hon. Justice Salihu Belgore in his opening remarks, praised prof. Oloyede for his achievements, adding that the book will be a wonderful book and therefore urged members to have a copy, read and learn.
On his part, the Honoree and JAMB Registrar, Professor Is-haq Oloyede who spoke on the missing N36 million swallowed by a mysterious snake, noted that the duty of JAMB is to account for whatever belongs to the government, adding that if a stolen fund is refunded, there will be little or no need to go further but when the contrary is the issue, the law enforcement agencies will have to do their jobs to recover what belongs to government.
He said, “There are very many honourable people, for anybody whether internal or external who has taken what doesn’t belong to him from JAMB, if any of them return quietly what they have taken, we will have no reason because I am not an auditor, but we will ensure that whatever belongs to the government is returned to the country”.
Oloyede while thanking the editors for their vision in putting up the book, also called on Nigerians to shun partisanship if the country must be great.
The book which is written in both English and Arabic, has 26 chapters, 509 pages and three main group of essays.
