Sultan of Sokoto, His Eminence, Muhammad Saad Abubakar and Gombe Governor Muhammadu Yahaya have lamented things are not getting better for the rich and the poor.
Speaking at the third annual summit of peaceful coexistence and nation-building organised by Dawah Coordination Council of Nigeria, DCCN at International Hotel Gombe, they admitted the standard of living for almost all Nigerians have nosedived and the poverty level is driving the poor into criminality.
The Sultan urged government at all levels to quickly address the scarcity of food, stating it is causing increasing insecurity.
The Sultan said: “I know what I am saying and I can say it anywhere. We must tell ourselves the whole truth, let’s not deceive ourselves that things are getting better.
“Things are not getting better and the earlier we know this, the better for us so that we can find means and ways of solving the problem, it is as simple as that.
“We want to thank you, followers, for being patient with us but being good followers does not mean you should not tell us where we are wrong and where we are right.
“If we do right vote for us, if we do not do right don’t vote for us. Nobody should force you to vote against the person you don’t like, if they give you money, take and go and vote for the person you think he is better. A hungry man is an angry man, we must check the poverty level in this country,” he said.
Yahaya said three-quarters of the problems in Nigeria is caused by the leaders.
He said: “I agree hundred percent that things are not normal in this country and it is our own making. God has provided all the benefits that we need in order to have a peaceful and harmonious relationship.
“But because of the greed of some elites who are destroyers and not producers. Really, if we go down, you will find that the ordinary man is very hard-working, very innocent and self-contented with anything but the greedy elements who want the whole world to be their own will come in any shape and make them destroy themselves.
“This fight is everybody’s fight. We must come together, we must join hands and struggle. The origin of all these problems is tied to the elites both traditional and political.
“The whole of the North is now in a crisis that if we are not very careful, it may consume all of us. That is why today, their target is no longer the ordinary or rich man, they also target the Emir or Chief because the public system doesn’t work.” The Nation