SOKOTO — Opposition leaders Peter Obi and Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso paid a high-level courtesy visit to the Sultan of Sokoto, His Eminence Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, at his palace in Sokoto, issuing a joint call for national unity, overhauled security, and urgent economic intervention.
The visit, conducted alongside key party stakeholders as part of broader nationwide consultations ahead of town-hall engagements in the North-West, focused on the mounting socio-economic challenges facing the nation, including widespread poverty, youth unemployment, and persistent insecurity.
Speaking during the audience, Obi emphasized that Nigeria urgently requires a unified national approach to rebuild its security architecture and rescue millions of citizens from crippling economic hardship, asserting that public leadership must transcend partisan, regional, or religious lines to guarantee every citizen a genuine sense of safety and belonging.
Kwankwaso echoed these sentiments, noting that constructive dialogue with traditional institutions remains vital to stabilizing volatile communities, fostering national cohesion, and ensuring peaceful political engagements across the geopolitical zones.
Welcoming the delegation, the Sultan of Sokoto urged political actors and their supporters to maintain peace, champion issue-based campaigns, and prioritize the stability of the sovereign state above personal ambitions.
The revered monarch also shared personal reflections during the meeting, recalling his nearly 46-year relationship with Obi dating back to 1980 at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, while reiterating the royal stool’s commitment to offering fatherly counsel to all national leaders striving for a prosperous and secure Nigeria.
