Sultan lists corruption as cause of Nigeria’s insecurity, calls for national prayers

The Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar III, said on Sunday corruption and other misdeeds by the elites were fuelling the various challenges, including insecurity plaguing the country.

The Sultan, who stated this in a statement issued by the Secretary-General of an Islamic group, Jama’atul Nasrul Islam (JNI), Dr. Khalid Abubakar Aliyu, asked government at all levels to brace up to the daunting challenges of good governance.

The monarch also urged Muslims across the country to hold special prayers against the challenges.

He said: “To the Muslims, Du’a is sine qua non in all circumstances of our lives, especially in moments of grief which we have now, unfortunately, found ourselves in Nigeria as a result of our misdeeds, corruption, and political recklessness cum arrogance. The call for prayer has for that reason become necessary as nothing is honourable before Allah (SWT) than His servant to be humble and submissive through prayers to Him.

“For whoever, to whom the door of prayer is opened, will have his prayers answered Insha’Allah. Supplication/invocation to Allah, the Almighty, is undoubtedly dearer to Him and the surest way to attaining requests put before Him by His repentant servants. Allah says ‘And remember your Lord by your tongue and within yourself, humbly and in awe, without loudness, by words in the morning and in the afternoon, and be not among those who are neglectful’ Q7:205.

“Owing to the above, His Eminence, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, CFR, mni, the Sultan of Sokoto and the President-General, JNI, use this medium to call on the Nigerian Muslim Ummah to engage in sustained supplications/prayers at this moment of grief, through Qunootun-Nawazil(special prayers at calamitous periods in the last Raka’at of each obligatory prayer and non-obligatory prayers).

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“The Sultan further calls on all Imams, Majaalis (knowledge-seeking gatherings), Halqas (study circles), Madaaris and Makarantun Allo (Islamic schools), as well as the leadership of all Muslim organizations/societies’ in Nigeria to commence special prayers in calamitous situations and trying times (Qunootun-Nawazil), and seek Allah’s compassion for Nigeria and the North in particular.

“This call has become inexorable because prayers remain the most powerful instrument upon which we beseech Allah (SWT) for His intervention in dealing with evil plotters, as well as Satan himself. In fact, the Prophet (Peace be Upon Him) said: ‘He who remembers his Lord and he who does not remember his Lord are like the living and the dead.

“Therefore, we call on all Muslim brethren to see it as a point of duty to always pray against kidnapping and/or abduction, Boko Haram cum ISWAP insurgency, political rascality, and all forms of criminalities during each supplication to Allah, the Most Knowledgeable. May Allah, the Most Merciful forgive all victims of the killings and bless them with ‘shahadah.”

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