The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubabar, has said some politicians were exploiting religious and ethnic differences to cause sectarian violence for supposed political advantage in the country.
The Sultan said that while sectarian crises could have religious undertone, religious differences could not be said to be the main reason for such violence.
The prominent traditional ruler made the comment while delivering a lecture titled ‘Traditional and Religious Institutions in Nigeria: Implication for National Security’ in Abuja on Friday.
He blamed such sectarian crisis on the nation’s political, ethnic, religious and ethnic diversities.
He said: “Unwholesome and divisive politics has tended to propagate hatred and ill-feeling and the demonization of entire religious and ethnic groups.
The Sultan said that several sectarian crises which started as minor political difference later snowballed into major religious crisis in the country.
He also observed that many Muslim parents still preferred to send their children to the traditional Islamic system in spite of the importance of Western education in the society.
According to him, over nine million youth attend the traditional Islamic schools in the northern part of the country which according to him, deepened the division between the Western education and the traditional Islamic system.
He said that there are more pupils in the traditional institutions than those receiving western education in some of the states of the North.
He also observed that that some citizens had exploited the prevailing aversion for Western education to command a large number of followers who were being used to wreak havoc on the society.
