SOKOTO GOVT DENIES PLOT TO DETHRONE SULTAN. (PHOTO).

 Sokoto govt denies plot to dethrone Sultan

Sokoto government has denied allegations by MURIC that it’s plotting  to depose His Eminence the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III.

The state Commissioner for information and societal reorientation Hon. Sambo Bello  Danchadi in a swift reaction on Tuesday said the state government  has no plan whatsoever to dethrone the revered  monarch, while describing the allegation by MURIC as false and baseless.

Sambo explained that the law guiding the appointment and disposition of traditional rulers in the state had not been changed or even repelled.

The Executive Director of the Muslim Rights Council MURIC, Prof. Isiaq Akintola, on Monday, raised alarm that, Sokoto state government was plotting to depose His Eminence  the Sultan of Sokoto against the backdrop of the happenings in Kano.

MURIC in a statement cited the removal of 15 traditional rulers for various offences.

Prof Akintola, in a statement further warned that,  Muslims Ummah in Nigeria  would reject and resist any hostile actions against the Sultan, who happened to be the spiritual leader of all Muslins in Nigeria.

The Islamic organization however  expressed concern over the alleged  sour relationship between the state government  and the Sultan.

The organisation said the pedestal of the Sultan of Sokoto was not only traditional but also religious, noting that the Sultan doubles as the head of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs.

The group warned the Sokoto governor not to “force Nigerian Muslims to take a drastically revolutionary measure.”

It said, “Feelers in circulation indicate that the governor may descend on the Sultan of Sokoto any moment from now using any of the flimsy excuses used to dethrone the 15 traditional rulers whom he removed earlier.

“MURIC advises the governor to look before he leaps. The Sultan’s stool is not only traditional, it is also religious. In the same vein, his jurisdiction goes beyond Sokoto. It covers the whole of Nigeria. He is the spiritual head of all Nigerian Muslims.

“Any governor who tampers with the stool of the Sultan will have Nigerian Muslims to reckon with because the Sultan combines the office of the Sultan of Sokoto and that of the President General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs ” says MURIC ..

Vice President Kasheem Shettima while reacting to the alarm raised by MURIC on  the alleged  planned dethronement of the Sultan by Sokoto by the state government  said  the Sultan is an institution that must be guarded and jealously protected by all Muslims .