The Sultan of Sokoto who is President-General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) and co-chair of the Nigeria Inter Religious Council (NIREC), His Eminence, Alhaji Saad Abubakar, Thursday called on political leaders, religious leaders and constituted authorities to take action in tackling corruption or it will consume Nigerians.
Speaking in Abuja at the 2024 1st quarterly meeting of NIREC, with the theme: “The Role of religious leaders in combating corruption and cybercrime,” the Sultan said it is unpatriotic for political leaders to come into office to amass wealth, while other people they are supposed to be representing cannot afford a meal.
He said: “The issue has been talked about every blessed day of our lives. At every forum, you will find people talking about corruption. Why is it not leaving us? Why is corruption not leaving us in Nigeria? We are concerned about Nigeria. I think we need to find out and we need to commission a study to find out why we are always beleaguered with corruption. Anybody who comes into office will get rich overnight.
“When you leave office, you will become a multi-millionaire with private jets and whatever. And nobody bothers to find out how he made that money. He becomes a big man and decides what happens. And this will continue as long as we keep on having office holders that come in and become lords and do what they want to do, give whom they want to give, deny whom they want to deny and things continue like that.
“So why corruption persists, I believe, based on books I have read of my forefathers, the great Muhammed Bello, the first Sultan of Sokoto, against a leader who thinks he owns the state as his personal property. It is there in the book. Don’t think you own the state as your personal property to give whom you want to give, deny whom you don’t want, because you are there as a keeper. You are there to serve people, not people to serve you.”
