Nigeria will soon develop into a strong democracy —Sultan

25.05.2008

Nigeria will soon develop into a strong democratic state, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, has said. The Sultan expressed the optimism at his palace on Saturday in Sokoto shortly after casting his vote at the re-run gubernatorial election.

“There is hope for Nigeria in future to be a very strong democratic country. “We are just coming up and if we continue in this way, there will be light at the end of the tunnel ,’’ he said, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

The Sultan expressed satisfaction with the conduct of the election, saying it was peaceful and without violence or intimidation.

He said, “we should continue with what we are doing now, voters should be allowed to exercise their rights freely without intimidation or coercion .’’

Abubakar also expressed happiness that voters were allowed to vote freely without being forced to do so. The traditional ruler commended INEC for the “excellent” arrangements it made for the poll.

“INEC has done a wonderful job and we will continue to support it,’’ he said. He urged the winner of the election to carry everybody along, saying, ‘’the winner should work with the people for the development of our state and the country in general.’’