Sultan of Sokoto reveals factors responsible for corruption, bad governance in Nigeria

The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa'ad Abubakar III, has blamed the
unprecedented corruption in the country and bad governance on money-
based politics.

Abubakar, who is the President-General, Nigeria Supreme Council for
Islamic Affairs, NSCIA, made the disclosure at the 23rd Ummah
Convention, organised by the Ummah Movement in Abuja.

The monarch lamented that the nation's political culture had
deteriorated and become increasingly mercantile, where money becomes
everything.

He said, "We cannot allow full reins to money politics and expect
corruption to go away.

"This is partly responsible for bad governance that has characterised
our polity, subverting our development, perpetrating poverty and
eliciting the unending social conflicts.

"This money-based politics will continue to fuel the unprecedented
corruption we see in our society; as a result of these, our pristine
values as people have been supplanted and our future thrown into
jeopardy.

"All leaders – political, spiritual and traditional – need to come
together to salvage our polity from dangers that the current political
culture poses. The consequences of ignoring these standards are
already showing and we must not wait until the bubbles burst."

Abubakar urged leaders at all levels to take issues of leadership seriously.

"We cannot ignore centuries old wisdom which places high premium on
leadership and places criteria for shouldering responsibilities," he
added.