By Muhd D Haidar
According to a report by Leadership, on Thursday May 7, 2026, the Sultan of Sokoto, Mohammed Sa’ad Abubakar, has called on Nigerians to avoid linking insecurity in the country to religion, stating that violence and criminal acts should not be blamed on any faith group.
Sultan stressed that insecurity should be addressed in a fair and accurate way, the Sultan said that terrorists and bandits are criminals and nothing more.
He explained that giving them religious labels creates confusion and can increase tension among citizens and warned that such descriptions can harm national unity.
He stated that the country must be careful in the way it describes security challenges, according to him, criminals should not be grouped under any religion and noted that doing so may wrongly suggest that a religion supports violence, which is not true.
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The Sultan insisted that Nigerians should see insecurity as a shared national problem, he said all communities are affected by violence, regardless of religion or background and added that solving the problem requires unity and clear understanding of the issue.
He further warned that mislabeling criminals can deepen mistrust among citizens. He said this can weaken efforts to build peace and cooperation across different groups, he urged leaders and citizens to use words that promote unity rather than division.
He repeated that bandits and terrorists should simply be called criminals, he said this helps to focus attention on their actions instead of their identities and explained that this approach will support better understanding and stronger national response to insecurity.
“Let us give bandits and terrorists their correct name. They are criminals, not Muslim terrorists or Christian terrorists,” he said.
