The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji SA’AD ABUBAKAR has lamented the high rate of insecurity in the North, saying it was the worst place in the country to live.

The Sultan, who stated this at the fourth quarterly meeting of the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council in Abuja, said bandits were fast overrunning the North as residents slept with their eyes open.

The meeting had as its theme, ‘Questioning for peace in the challenges of insecurity and COVID-19’

Sultan SA’AD ABUBAKAR noted that bandits had become daring as they moved from house to house, village to village, market to market, with AK-47 rifles openly, purchasing foodstuffs and other items without any challenge from the security agencies.

The Sokoto monarch also narrated some of the security challenges some residents of the Northern region have been facing. 

He said; 

“The insecurity in the north is so high that people are even afraid of travelling from Funtua to Zaria, a journey of about 48 or 50 miles. Not to talk of Sokoto to Abuja or to Kano.

“We know what we are going through. We are so insecure in the north that people are losing hope. People keep things in the house so that when the bandits come, they would let them be free.

“Couple of weeks ago, 76 people were killed in Sokoto by bandits in a day, it is not a story because I went there with the governor in Eastern part of Sokoto but you don’t hear these stories because it happened in the North and we don’t have media that is strong enough to bring out these atrocities about the bandits so people think that the North is secure.

“No north is not secure at all. In fact, it is the worst place to be in this country because bandits go about in the villages with their AK47 and nobody talks to them. They stop at the markets and buy things and even collect change with their weapons.”