By Lawal A Dogara, Kaduna
The Sultan of Sokoto , Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III has called on the Northern governors to match their words with action and “throw Away Our Lazy Attitudes.”
The sultan made this assertion during a joint meeting of the Northern governors forum and traditional rulers at Sir Kashim Ibrahim House in Kaduna Thursday, calling on each and every Northern elite to throw away their lazy attitudes.
While speaking, 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.
His words:” During our last meeting 6 months ago, we spent a lot of time and so many 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 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.
” What we do or how we go about some of this 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.”.
While commending some governors for their hard work and resilience 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.
He added ,” 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.”
