On Thursday, the Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar, and the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Rev. Samson Ayokunle, criticized the Federal Government for poor security management.

They asked for a unified and coordinated approach to solving the country’s security concerns, citing the recent intensification of attacks in the Shinkafi axis of Sokoto and the overall security challenges in the country.

Abubakar and Ayokunle spoke their thoughts at the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council’s 4th Quarterly Meeting in Abuja.

The Sultan said that something was wrong with the country, citing a surge in crime and criminality across the federation as evidence.

“If I continue talking about the insecurity in the North, we will not leave this room. We are witnesses to the media report on how people were killed in a bus in Sokoto, even though the figure of casualty is not correct. There is no single day that passes without people being killed in the North, especially in the North West, but we don’t hear it,” he said.

“Let’s not deceive ourselves, everything is not alright, I have said this so many times, and to know that you have a problem, you have part of the solution. The earlier we rise to the occasion, come together, the better for us.”

Citing a recent threat letter sent to Christians in Zamfara State by bandits, the Sultan chastised security authorities for failing to verify and authenticate the source of the threatening communication.

He bemoaned the police’s failure to exercise due diligence before telling Christians of the intended attack on churches in Zamfara, claiming that this could have scared worshippers and weakened their faith.

“When I saw a note that the bandits are threatening Christians in Zamfara, I asked what is the work of our security agencies? Why will they come out and make such a comment when they have not verified it? You are making people more frightened,” he said.

“I will not stop going to the mosque to pray just because I saw in a paper that if I go to the mosque I will be killed. Let me be killed. I must die. So, Christians should not be afraid of going to church to worship because an anonymous person is threatening them.”

While advocating for a fresh method and plan to solve some of the country’s concerns, the Sultan claimed that some religious leaders are contributing to the country’s key problems.

“We have to be careful in the way we handle, say, and do things as religious leaders. We are not political leaders. Therefore, we have to be wary of what we say, where and how we say such things because our followers will believe in what we say. They will believe and feel that it is from the Holy Koran or the Holy Bible.

“We cannot go on telling things to people without thinking that they will believe. We cannot go on saying things that we know we don’t have full knowledge of”, the Sultan said.

The nation’s highways, according to Ayokunle, who co-chairs NIREC with the Sultan, are a “den of kidnappers and a no-go-area for travelers.”

He was perplexed as to why the security personnel were unable to track down the kidnappers and rescue the victims.

Ayokunle said, “Travelling from one point to another by road, in particular, has become a very great risk. Kidnappers are everywhere and they don’t only come out to kidnap but also to kill, so you don’t know who the next victim is going to be.

“Why should these people be killing and hiding people in our territory without being challenged? Why should it be easy for them to hide people somewhere within the state and the security agencies in the state within a few days or weeks will not be able to fish them out?”

Ayokunle called for increased intelligence collection and urged the people to help security forces track down and apprehend criminals by providing information.

He also called for more investment in the military to improve its performance and cautioned security forces to rid themselves of people who help and abet the country’s lawlessness.

Fr. Cornelius Omonokhua, the Executive Secretary of NIREC, called on Christians and Muslims to work together to combat terrorism and insecurity.

“No terrorist can be a religious person and no religious person can be a terrorist. We must come together now to pray and fight those who have waged war against humanity in Nigeria” Fr. Cornelius said.