Sultan of Sokoto rejects Operation Shege Ka Fasa, blames northern elites

The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji  Sa’ad Abubakar, on Thursday declared he is not in support of a move by some northern youths to float “what they called Operation Shege Ka Fasa.”

The Sultan spoke at a Northern Security Meeting in Kaduna on Thursday, urging the regional leaders to caution the youths.

The Coalition of Northern Groups had unveiled the symbol of the security outfit on Wednesday in Kaduna.

Sultan said, “I saw it on the television, and the media gave them attention. Now, the elders allowed these youths to go forward. So, the elites are our problems, the elders are our problems. If the elders don’t take the lead, the youth will do whatever they like and think they are right. You have to caution these youths by giving them good leadership.

“Now, they have launched their own security outfit I don’t know what they call it, Shege Ka Fasa’, meaning what?

“So, I want to call on northern elders to caution them. Don’t allow these youths to take over leadership from you. You have to reach out to everybody no matter how low the person is. So, I think we need to take the bull by the horns and not allow the youths take over responsibility. I think we need to do that and much more.”

He asked the governors of the northern states to tackle the security challenges in the region.

Abubakar also expressed concern over the 50,000 orphans in the region as a result of the Boko Haram insurgency.

Sultan, who is the Nigerian Muslims spiritual leader, said if nothing was done about the orphans, they would turn out to be worse than Boko Haram.

“Several recommendations have been made but are not implemented and as they remain unimplemented, we will continue to suffer the consequences.”