Sultan of Sokoto seeks amnesty for all armed groups in Nigeria

The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar, on Tuesday appealed to the Federal Government to grant amnesty to all the armed groups operating in Nigeria.
Abubakar made the call in Kaduna, Kaduna State at the annual meeting of the Central Council of the Jama’atul Nasril Islam.
He is the president of the JNI.
Abubakar, who urged President Goodluck Jonathan to declare total amnesty for all the combatants, said: “That will make any person who takes up arms to be termed as a criminal.
“If amnesty is declared, so many of these young men who are tired of running and hiding, would come out and embrace this amnesty.
“And we believe some of them have already come out because we have heard some of the stories in the papers, in the media.
“Even if it is one person, who is a terrorist and he denounces terrorism, it is the duty of the government to accept that person as he can be used to reach others.
“We are facing a lot of challenges in this great country of ours and as Muslims, we have a duty to everybody to ensure that we contribute positively to peace and stability in this country.
“It is the duty of the government to protect all of us.
“Ours is just to advice and we will continue to advice the government at all levels.
“We will not get tired.
“If they do what they are supposed to do, Alhamdulillahi.
“If they don’t, we will continue to tell them to do the right thing.”