Sultan: Killings are underreported — we buried 76 people in one day in Sokoto

Sa’ad Abubakar, Sultan of Sokoto, says the number of people killed by criminals across the country is underreported. 

Speaking at the 3rd quarter 2021 meeting of the intra-religious council in Abuja on Thursday, Abubakar said the level of insecurity in the country has worsened.

According to him, 76 residents in the state were killed and buried in one day, and 48 persons another day. He said these incidents were not reported.

The Sultan asked why the intelligence agencies have been unable to identify the culprits.

“In eastern Sokoto alone, there was a day we buried 76 persons, who were killed in cold blood by criminals who came from nowhere, people don’t hear about that one. There was another day we buried 48 persons in the same Sokoto, but you didn’t hear about it,” Abubakar said.

“How can people, who do these things, be unknown? Where are our intelligence agencies? Don’t we have a proactive intelligence agency that will think ahead of the bandits?

“All the people committing such atrocities must be identified. The security agencies must up their game, find them and take action on this kind of carnage. If we start doing so, all this carnage we see in this country will stop.”

Abubakar advised the government to seek help from “foreign powers to come and play the game we don’t know how to play”.

“I am making these comments with all seriousness because we are so disturbed by the way things are going,” he said.