The Sultan of Sokoto and Chairman of Northern Traditional Council of Chiefs, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar has told Governors to guard against negative utterances.
He said, “What we do or how we go about some of these issues, I think it is important for us as leaders to watch our words. You don’t make ambiguous statement which will be very difficult to withdraw, we are aware of the implications, because the social media is so negative now that people formulate stories that never existed and polish it to be true”.
The Sultan who made the call in Kaduna in his opening address at the joint meeting of Northern States Governors with Northern Traditional Rulers said the Northern region is not bereaved of solutions to its challenges but the lack of sincerity and commitment on the parts of leaders at all levels of governance.
He further advocated the urgent need for attitudinal change from all and sundry and to always speak and do what we say and make our words our bond.
This is just as he called on the Northern Governors to be up and doing in the discharge of their duties, and avoids procrastinating on useful decisions capable of turning around the poor situation of the north while calling on the Northern elites to throw away their lazy attitude.
In the same vein, he also called on traditional and religious rulers to guard their utterances and avoid inciting words which could cause chaos, adding that stories could be floated negatively by rumor mongers on social media.
According to the Sultan who is the Chairman of Northern Traditional Council of Chiefs “During our last meeting six months ago, we spent alot of time and somany things were discussed, but from the earlier discussion, is the North much better now than we were six months ago? If yes, it means we are making progress, and if No, why?
“All that has been the problem is to implement decisions taken at such meeting by everybody. Therefore, I think we are not short of solutions or further recommendations to all our problems, but what we are short of all of us is sincerity, commitment to really do what we say publicly and openly. I think if we don’t change, our situation will continue to get worse.
“I think at this meeting, we need to discuss what came out of the January 2017 meeting, how far we have gone in trying to implement some of the decisions we have taken and chart the way forward.
“I will like to also once more remind us, so many of us who are also religious leaders, to caution their utterances against inciting and ambiguous words on issues that shouldn’t have been brought up.
While commending some governors for their hard, resilience and their proactiveness on aspect of education in the North, he assured all and sundry that the traditional rulers are collectively committed to making the north, the end of the rest of the world.
“But we have to and we must be up and doing, we must throw away our lazy attitudes , because whatever problem we have in our region, we are more educated to find solution to them.
I assure you of our support, and I want you to continue to see us (traditional rulers ) as partners in this long and tough journey to emancipating our people from the grip of poverty and lazy life” the Sultan assured.
