Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa'ad Abubakar III said the current recession in the country and other parts of the world is ordained by God.
The monarch stated this Wednesday, November 2nd, as activities for the commemoration of his 10th coronation anniversary commenced with the distribution of items to widows, orphans and other indigents in the state. at a ceremony organised by the state Zakkat and Endowment Committee.
"The only solution to this is for us to show piety and repent. It is ordained by God" he said.
The Sultan also admonished Muslims and Christians to live their lives according to the dictates of their Holy Scriptures. He also appeal for more proactive measures to prevent the rising cases of kidnapping in the country.
Born in August 24, 1956, in Sokoto), Alhaji Abubakar is the 20th Sultan of Sokoto, the titular ruler of Sokoto. He is the head of Jama’atu Nasril Islam (Society for the Support of Islam – JNI), and president-general of the Nigerian National Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA). He succeeded his brother, Muhammadu Maccido, who died on October 29,2006, on ADC Airlines Flight 53. The flight crashed shortly after takeoff from Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport and had been destined for Sokoto. Abubakar is a younger son of the seventeenth Sultan, Siddiq Abu Bakar dan Usuman, who held the Sultanate for over fifty years.
He attended the prestigious Barewa College, Zaria , and proceeded to the Nigerian Defence Academy in 1975 where he was a member of the 18th Regular Course. Abubakar was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in 1977 and served in the elite Armoured Corps.
He headed a presidential security unit of the Armoured Corps that guarded then military ruler, General Ibrahim Babangida, in the late 1980s. Abubakar also commanded a battalion of African peacekeepers in Chad during the early 1980s as part of the Organisation of African Unity’s force and was military liaison officer for the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), in the mid 1990s. He was appointed commanding officer 241 Recce Battalion, Kaduna, in 1993. From 1995 to 1999, Abubakar was ECOWAS military liaison officer and commanding officer, 231 Tank Battalion (ECOMOG Operations) in Sierra Leone from 1999 to 2000. Between 2003 and 2006, he served as defence attaché to Pakistan (also accredited for Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Afghanistan). Upon his elder brother, Sultan Maccido’s death, he was recalled to take office as the 20th Sultan of Sokoto and retired as a Brigadier General.
The Sokoto State Government will also hold an International Symposium on the legendary Sokoto Caliphate as part of activities marking the 10th anniversary of the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III on the throne.
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