The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has expressed concern on anxiety over alleged plan to depose the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) had stated that it had no hand in the plot to remove the Sultan if the party wins the governorship election in Sokoto.
Hundreds of youths had on Monday staged a demonstration round the city over the matter.
Addressing newsmen at the palace, one of their leaders, Murtala Abdulrahman, said, “We are at the palace to alert the Sultan to the evil plot by the APC to remove him if they win the governorship election.
“They alleged that the Sultan has not been supporting the APC. They are saying, ‘new government, new Sultan.’ We will not allow them to rubbish our traditional ruler. We shall put them to shame.”
But state chairman of the APC, Isa Acida, addressing journalists at the party secretariat, described the claim as a plot by Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, ahead of governorship election.
He accused PDP state chairman, Alhaji Ibrahim Milgomaof making statements capable of throwing Sokoto into turmoil.
Reacting on Wednesday, MURIC insisted that the sultanate must be given immunity from deposition.
MURIC Director, Professor Ishaq Akintola, in a statement, said: “There is need to go beyond mere debunking of this allegation to dethrone the Sultan”.
“The system (the sultanate) must be strengthened in such a way that it is made impossible for anyone, governor or even president, to wake up one day and say he wants to depose the Sultan.
“We are talking of the head of all Muslims in Nigeria and a single person will just dethrone him just by snapping a finger. The Sultan does not head Sokoto sultanate alone. He is the President-General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA). He deserves tons of respect.
“But the reality on ground goes beyond grandstanding. The extant laws are on the side of the state governor if he decides to depose the Sultan. Section 6 Cap 26 of the Laws of Northern Nigeria empowers the governor to do that with any emir in his state. He hires and fires them. This was how Sultan Ibrahim Dasuki was removed by a military governor in 1996.
“It was made possible because the Sultan is a traditional ruler. Yet Article 7 Section (i) of the Constitution of the NSCIA stipulates that the Sultan of Sokoto shall be its President-General. This shows that Section 6 Cap 26 of the Laws of Northern Nigeria constitutes a potent threat to Article 7 Section (i) of the Constitution of the NSCIA.
“Our position is that one of the two must give way and we believe it has to be the Sokoto law on traditional rulers. This is because NSCIA constitution is national whereas the laws of Sokoto are for Sokoto state only. This law must be repealed to grant immunity to the Sultan. It will continue to affect other emirs but it will have no power on the Sultan.”
