Sultan of Sokoto, HRM Saad Abubakar, has distanced himself from the newly created security outfit for the Northern region, ‘Operation Shege Ka Fasa’, adding that if the increasing number of orphans created by insurgency are not attended to, something worse than Boko Haram may emerge in that part of Nigeria.
Last Wednesday February 5, the Coalition of Northern Groups (CNGs) unveiled their new security outfit.
According to the spokesperson of the groups, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, the formation of the security outfit became necessary following the spread of insurgency from the Northeast region in 2008 to other parts of the Northern region.
‘Shege Ka Fasa’ was established barely a month after governors of the Southwest inaugurated Amotekun, a security outfit meant to attend to the security challenges in the Southwest region.
Speaking at a security meeting in Kaduna state on Friday, February 7, the Sultan advised Northern elders to caution the youths against this move.
“I saw it on the television, and the media gave them attention. Now, the elders allowed these youths to go forward. So, the elites are our problems, the elders are our problems. If the elders don’t take the lead, the youth will do whatever they like and think they are right. You have to caution these youths by giving them good leadership.
Now, they have launched their own security outfit I don’t know what they call it, ‘Shege Ka Fasa’, meaning what?
So, I want to call on northern elders to caution them. Don’t allow these youths to take over leadership from you. You have to reach out to everybody no matter how low the person is. So, I think we need to take the bull by the horns and not allow the youths take over responsibility. I think we need to do that and much more.” he said
The Monarch also expressed concern over the growing number of orphans in the region as a result of insurgency. According to him, if the orphans are not attended to, they “would turn out to be worse than the Boko Haram.”