Sultan Tasks Leaders on Unity, Says Diri is Patriotic

The Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar III, has urged Nigerian leaders to always place the interest of the country above sectional or partisan considerations, stressing that the unity of the country was paramount and leaders should endeavour to promote it at all times.

The Sultan spoke at the weekend in his palace in Sokoto, when the Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Douye Diri, paid him a condolence visit over the death of a member of the Sultanate Council, Alhaji Hassan Danbaba.

The late Danbaba was the Magajin-gari Sokoto and a grandson of the late Sardauna of Sokoto, Sir Ahmadu Bello.
Sultan Abubakar, however, described Governor Diri as a patriotic Nigerian, because his delegation comprised of individuals from different parts of the country and advised other leaders to emulate him in order to foster unity.

He thanked the governor for the visit and for identifying with people of the state in their moment of grief.
“At the appointed time, every one of us will answer the great call. It is only the Almighty God that knows when is the appointed time,” he said.

The Sultan also congratulated the Bayelsa helmsman on his second anniversary in office and for providing what he described as “very strong leadership as attested to by many leaders in the country.”
In his remarks, Diri, who commiserated with the Sultan, his Sokoto counterpart, Aminu Tambuwal, and people of the state over Danbaba’s death, said the deceased was dear to the state and Nigeria and therefore, his sudden demise was a shock, not only to the people of Sokoto but the country as a whole.

He explained that he would have visited earlier, when he first heard about the sad loss, but that the activities marking the second anniversary of his administration, which just ended, delayed him.
While bemoaning insecurity in the country as well as banditry and terrorism in parts of the North, Diri called on the federal government to make effort to bring the scourge to an end.

Noting that too many lives had been lost to insurgency in the North, he said, “Your Eminence, I am here on behalf of the good people of Bayelsa State and my prosperity administration to commiserate with you, the governor and people of Sokoto State.
“Death is a necessary end that will come when it will come. None of us has control over it.Our prayer is that whenever we come to Sokoto, it would not be as a result of death again. Instead, we will come to this great kingdom to be happy and make merriment with you.

“We are also not unaware of the banditry that has claimed so many lives in this state and other parts of the North. Again, on behalf of the people of my state, I commiserate with you over the lives that have been lost.
“I, therefore, call on the federal government and the military to redouble their effort to stop the banditry in the North. We are like a system, where when one part of the country is sick, the rest of the country is also sick. We cannot fold our arms in Bayelsa believing that all is well when it is not well with our brothers in Sokoto.

“I appeal to the federal government to do all it would take to stop the banditry so our people can breathe and sleep with their two eyes closed. So that they can go about their legitimate businesses without fear of being attacked.”

While speaking to journalists at the Sadiq Abubakar III International Airport, Diri commended Tambuwal, for the level of development in the state, saying evidence abound that he was working like other Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors in the country.

“Like the National Chairman of our party said about PDP governors, Governor Tambuwal is also working. I am even taken aback by the level of development I have seen in the state. I pray that God will provide the resources for him to continue to deliver the dividends of democracy to the people of Sokoto,” he said.