Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar has decried that the nation’s leaders were setting dangerous precedence by deliberate disobedience of court orders.
Noting that the consequences of continuous disregard for court pronouncements were grave, he warned that the societies do not prosper where lawlessness reign.
Abubakar stated these during the 2019 last quarterly meeting of religious leaders under the umbrella of Nigerian Inter-Religious Council (NIREC), which he co-chaired.
Speaking, Abubakar maintained that nations suffer politically and economically whenever the President, governors or influential persons choose which court order to obey.
In the interest of unity, peace and social justice, he urged Nigerians irrespective their status, to always subscribe to the rule of law and the courts to express dissatisfaction with court processes or orders.
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“We must regularly obey and respect the laws of our land. We should never disregard the laws to avoid the consequences.
“If a court makes a judicial pronouncement on a particular matter, it should be obeyed to the letter. If you have any problem or disagree with the pronouncement, the next step is to appeal the pronouncement instead of disregarding or violating court judgments.
“If you are served a court order and you deliberately refuse to obey it because you are a Governor, President or any influential person, then you are setting a dangerous precedence.
“There’s no society that will prosper through lawlessness. Citizens must be law-abiding so that we can achieve the desired development,” Abubakar said.
While saluting religious leaders for their comportment during the 2019 elections, he harped on the need for Nigerians to tolerate one another regardless of religion and shun divisive tendencies stemming from religious bias.
In similar remarks, Executive Secretary, NIREC, Professor Cornelius Omonokhua urged government officials at all levels to be guided by the rule of law, transparency and accountability.
Omonokhua particularly urged political office holders and religious leaders to promote social justice, good governance to quell religious political and ethnic tensions in the country.
“NIREC urges the government to promote the rule of law, transparency, accountability, consensus building, equity, stronger institutions and efficiency.
‘’Determined efforts should be made by the government and religious leaders to check our problems in order to protect the moral well-being of the people,” Omonokhua said.
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