Biafra: I’m worried, says Sultan

•Northern delegation to meet S’East leaders, mourn Audu,
Tor Tiv
From Noah Ebije, Kaduna
The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar 111,
yesterday expressed worry over the increasing agitation
for Biafra by some Igbo groups. He said the northern
traditional council would soon send a delegation to Igbo
leaders in the South East on the issue.
The Sultan spoke yesterday at the second General
Assembly of the Northern Traditional Rulers’ Council in
Kaduna.
This was even as the Sultan condoled with the people of
Kogi, Benue and the entire country over the death of
former Governor Abubakar Audu, the demise of Tor-Tiv,
Alfred Torkula and the loss of Nigerian pilgrims during this
year’s hajj in Saudi Arabia.
The Sultan, who chairs the council, said millions of Igbo
resident in all parts of the country were against the Biafra
agitation, hence, the need to send delegates for a dialogue
to allow peace to reign.
He said: “We are very much concerned about this issue
because we know we have millions of millions of Igbos
residing with us in our homes, in our towns, in our states,
very peacefully, very industrious, helping our communities
and our economy to grow and so many of them as we
know, keep telling us that they have nowhere else to live
than where they are presently living.
“Since we have this coordination with millions and millions
of them, what is happening now is a thing of concern to us
and we believe we should look at this issue and most
likely set up a small committee of senior traditional rulers
to go to South-East and engage our brothers there
(traditional rulers) so that we will know how we can come
in to stop this agitation,” the Sultan said.
He commended some Igbo leaders and governors who did
not support the agitation, adding that it must be
condemned totally because, “we believe in dialogue,
whatever the problem is with anybody, we believe we
should sit down and discuss and a solution will be found.”
Also, the  Governor of Adamawa State, Umar Jibrila
Bindow, has raised the alarm over the influx of Internally
Displaced Persons (IDPs) from neighbouring countries
including Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad and
Niger, describing it as ‘strange’.
Meanwhile, Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai, has
also called on the traditional rulers to explore employment
opportunities paticularly in agriculture. Mallam El-rufai
said, Nigeria currently spends more than half of its foreign
revenue on importation of food and fuel, stressing that the
sad situation limits opportunities for citizens of the
Northern region.
He said: “We live in a nation that spends more than half of
its foreign exchange earnings on importing food and fuel.”