Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar, has said the 1914 amalgamation of Nigeria was not a blunder because “God does not make mistakes”.
He said Nigeria will not be one entity if God doesn’t wish it to be so.
Speaking on Wednesday at a colloquium organised by Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), he said anyone advocating for the break up of Nigeria is challenging God.
“When people talk about restructuring, if they mean we should disintegrate the country, I will not support it. But if it means making things and lives better and much conducive and convenient for Nigerians, then lets sit down and discuss about it,” he said.
“I know that many of these groups from the North, West, South-South and South East agitating for this or that have their positions. But despite the realities at present, no group has the right to tell anybody you must leave this place or that place if we still live in this country called Nigeria.
“And I support the President’s position 100 per cent, I believe what he said is right. And I say, instead of talking about devolution of power, let’s talk about devolution of economy.
“It is good to sit down and dialogue, but there must be respect. I must respect you and you must respect me. And the greatest thing we can do for this country is to always reflect on our history. We didn’t fall from the sky, but came from somewhere.
“We became Nigeria in 1914 through amalgamation. People are shouting that our coming together as a country in 1914 was a mistake, but God doesn’t make mistakes. If God doesn’t want such a thing as Nigeria to happen, nobody could ever have made it happen.
“So we claim to be very religious, but we challenge God, you don’t come out in the open and say you are challenging God, but by actions and utterances, many people are virtually challenging God. There is no wrong in you saying I want to be better than I am.”
The monarch further said there’s a need for Nigerians to dialogue about burning issues “at this important time” in the nation’s history.