Elect people based on capacity, not ethnic and religious sentiment, says Sultan

Source: pointblanknews.com

The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa'ad Abubakar III today said that political leaders should be elected based on their capacity to deliver the dividends of democracy, rather than ethnic and religious sentiment.

Speaking today when he received President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan in his palace in Sokoto, the sultan decried the regular resort to sentiment as an instrument of electioneering. According to him," no politician can win elections with muslim or christian, northern or southern votes alone. Therefore, voting on ethnic or other sentimental divides cannot help us as a nation. We must vote for the person who we believe can move the country forward, not based on his religion or ethnic background".   

The Sultan who welcomed President Jonathan as "a son of the caliphate", said that through word and deed, the president has shown love and respect for the caliphate, and therefore he is part and parcel of the people. "Welcome home our son the president. You have taken us as your parents, your brothers and your sisters. This is your home and you will always be welcome here", he said.

Speaking earlier, President Jonathan thanked the Sultan for standing by him right from his days as Vice President.  " You have always taken me as one of your own, and for this I am very grateful."

The president told the sultan that the Goodluck/Sambo ticket stands for the unity and  total transformation of Nigeria.

"You would have noticed that the fuel queues have disappeared. We are gradually stabilising power, we are encouraging mechanised farming, opening up new rail networks. We are re-jigging almajiri education so that we can properly expose the children to modern trends without compromising their cultures and traditions,” the president said.