The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, at the weekend, advised Nigerians not to allow politicians to manipulate them by peddling hate and bigotry for their vested interests.
The Sultan gave the advice in a statement issued by the Country Representative of the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy (ICD), Mr. Dickson Omoregie.
A copy of the statement made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in Abuja, noted that Abubakar made the remark at an international symposium entitled: “Promotion of World Peace Through Inter-Faith Dialogue’’ organised by the ICD in Rome.
The Sultan added that “Nigerians must not allow themselves to be manipulated by politicians who wish to use us to peddle hate and bigotry to attain their vested interests.
“Most of our ethno-religious crises in Nigeria are perpetrated by our inability to have sufficient courage to say no and say to them `count me out.’
“It is essential that we come together to face the challenges of building a just and equitable society.’’
The Sultan was nominated by the ICD as Speaker at the Rome symposium on: “Cultural Diplomacy and Religion’’ at the Vatican, in Italy.
The ICD was founded in 1999 as an international non-governmental organisation, with headquarters in Berlin, Germany.
The ICD´s ultimate goal is to promote global peace and stability by strengthening and supporting inter-cultural relations at all levels. (NAN)
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