The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III has appealed to Nigerians to always pray for their leaders even in bad situations.
The Sultan made the appeal at the University of Ilorin on Thursday while speaking during a public lecture and book presentations in honour of Professor Is’haq Oloyede.
Oloyede, the Registrar of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) formally retired from the services of the University of Ilorin after attaining 70 years of age.
The books were titled, “Islamics, Scholarship and Service to Society, A Festschrift for Is-haq Oloyede”, and “Glimpses into the Giant: A Tapestry of Tributes to Prof. Is-haq Oloyede at 70”.
According to Sultan, Nigerians should stop the habit of cursing their leaders but pray for them no matter how bad the situation is.
“Don’t curse your leaders, no matter how bad they may be, but pray for them. Never talk ill of your leaders. Even if a leader is bad, pray for him. Don’t condemn your leaders no matter how bad they are”, he said.
The Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Prince Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), who was the chairman of the event, also charged Nigerians to encourage their leaders to perform optimally and not to castigate them all the time.
“I’m not saying that we don’t have problems, but when you begin to relegate or malign the country, I don’t know what you are portraying to the outside world.
“You may think you are doing them a favour but at the end of the day, they will show you the way out.
“I agree, however, that among us we have some bad eggs and it’s normal even in developed countries.
“So, what we need to do to minimise it, (because you can’t eradicate the situation) is to ensure that we put up a policy, behaviour, and activities that will discourage things that will inhibit development and respect for the country”, he added.
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