The Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, has labeled social media a “terrorist organisation,”; highlighting its role in spreading misinformation and inciting unrest.
During his speech at the 7th Executive Committee Meeting of the Northern Traditional Rulers’ Council in Maiduguri, Borno State, the Sultan urged security agencies to address social media platforms with the same seriousness as other national security threats.
“Social media is one terrorist organisation. Somebody can sit in the comfort of their home and formulate stories and you will consider that it is true. Social media is a terrorist organisation that we must deal with. Security agencies must deal with this terrorist organisation called social media.”;
The Sultan also condemned the ongoing violence and killings in Plateau State and other parts of the country. He called for urgent and decisive action from political leaders and security agencies to address the crisis.
“Our coming together as traditional rulers in the North, I believe, we have more than 86 in the North. We will speak with one voice to say ‘enough is enough’ of this senseless killing of innocent people across the North and the country,”; he said.
He further criticized the frequent issuance of condemnation statements without tangible results, urging for concrete steps to end the violence.
“We, the traditional rulers, feel bad and saddened when our people are killed by people we don’t know. It’s high time we worked harder, talked to ourselves and in a closed-door meeting, discuss it. We shall advise our political leaders, they are at the helm of affairs and we will work with them,”; he concluded.
