The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, has called for an immediate investigation into the killing of an Army officer identified as Col. Abdussalam Ude.
The President-General of the Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs also condemned what he described as persistent hatred and discrimination against minority Igbo Muslims in the South-East, urging an end to attacks on religious minorities across the country.
His position was contained in a statement issued on Wednesday by Prince Bashir Adefaka on behalf of the Sultan’s media team.
The Sultan described the reported hostility towards minority Igbo Muslims in the South-East as a setback to national unity and urged the Federal Government and the Armed Forces to uncover the circumstances surrounding the officer’s death.
According to the statement titled “Sultan of Sokoto Calls for Immediate Launch of Investigation on Alleged Assassination of Igbo Muslim Army officer,” Alhaji Abubakar made the call “while reacting to the recent assassination, allegedly, of Nigeria’s most senior Igbo Muslim Army officer, which occurred at his residence in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.”
The Sultan said: “The Federal Government and the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria have o put heads together and get to the roots of circumstances that led to the shooting at alleged close range of Army Colonel Abdur-Razaq AbdlKarim Ude, a fine military intelligence officer that both Muslim Ummah and traditional communities in the country, especially the region he hailed from, were proud of.”
He added that failure to investigate the killing of any Nigerian, particularly a serving military officer, would undermine efforts at nation-building.
“To allow the killing of any single Nigerian soul taken out without getting to the root of the cause and bringing the culprits to justice with a view to disallowing a repeat of the same is not a good way to talk about a serious country, much more when the life extrajudicially taken is that of a soldier of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“The cause of this killing and attempt on the life of his family must be found out and the government and other appropriate quarters do the needful,” he said.
Sultan demands immediate investigation into killing of Army officer