Fred Ezeh, Abuja
The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar, said in Abuja, yesterday, that the corruption level is still high in public offices, in spite of the anti-graft fight being championed by the Federal Government.
The Muslim leader, who spoke at the public presentation of a book written in honour of the Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, insisted that Nigerians must support the fight, instead of “sitting on the fence.
“Things are obviously not okay with our governance system and we have said it repeatedly, in so many fora, that we must converge at the dialogue table and discuss ways and means of getting things back on track.”
He was unhappy with some Nigerians who literally tagged a certain tribe in Nigeria, as terrorists.
“Nowadays, we don’t have statesmen; all we have now are men of states because people are more aligned with their individual states, more than Nigeria.
“We have men that only see their environment only as their own. It means that if you don’t belong to their tribal or ethnic ethnic background, you are finished.
“These are things happening and we cannot allow it to continue. We must be free to move to wherever we want to, see, live wherever we want to live.
“Nowadays, the worst word you could hear is ‘Fulani this and that.’ People forgot that there are millions of Fulani men who do not rear cattle.
“I am a very proud Fulani man but I was never a herder. But, it is unfortunate that when people see a Fulani man, the first thing they see is a killer and that judgement is unfair.
“There are so many non-Fulani who are herdsmen and there are criminals all over the world.
“So, let us give criminals their due name, call them criminals not Christian or Muslim criminals, not Fulani criminals. That has been our message to government.”
Meanwhile, Oloyede appreciated the turnout of friends and family members who came to celebrate him with the over 500-page book.
He assured them that transparency, accountability and efficiency would remain the watchword in JAMB operations under his leadership.