Sultan Sa’ad Abubakar III says God will not accept holy trips paid for with stolen public funds.
The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, has sent a very strong warning to all politicians and government workers across the country.
He told them to completely stop taking stolen government money to pay for people to travel for holy religious trips to Mecca in Saudi Arabia or Jerusalem.
The respected traditional ruler gave this direct advice in the nation’s capital city, Abuja, during a big gathering organized by the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council.
During this important event, many Christian and Muslim leaders came together to talk about how to bring peace, honesty, and truth back into the country.
During the conference, the Sultan explained very clearly that nobody can do bad things like taking public money and then expect God to bless them just because they used part of that dirty money for holy journeys.
He emphasized that performing religious duties with money taken from the public treasury is completely wrong and is a huge sin that cannot be washed away by good deeds.
He clearly told everyone present in the hall that Almighty God is completely clean and pure, so He will never accept any prayer or worship that is paid for with bad money.
Speaking directly to the audience during his speech, the traditional ruler gave strong words against using illegal money for holy journeys.
Explaining why dirty money cannot work for religious matters, the Sultan said, “We, as religious leaders, must fight corruption because God Almighty doesn’t like corruption”.
Warning leaders who think sponsoring people will cover their bad deeds, he stated, “You cannot steal money and send people to Jerusalem or Mecca with corrupt funds and think God will accept your deeds. God is not corrupt, so you cannot use corrupt money for Hajj or anything else”.
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Telling anti-corruption officers to catch anybody who steals, no matter their religious title, he added, “When someone is facing the law, do not tell me he is the pastor of so-and-so church or the chief imam of so-and-so mosque. We do not want to hear that”.
The reason why the Sultan spoke out so boldly is that many political leaders in Nigeria often use government funds to pay for hundreds of people to go on pilgrimage every year just to make voters happy or look like good religious people.
The Sultan wants government agencies like the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to arrest any officer who steals public wealth, without caring whether the person is a big Christian pastor or a top Muslim imam.
He also asked pastors and imams across Nigeria to stop using their church platforms or mosque pulpits to cause anger during election times, but rather to pray for the country’s leaders so that peace can reign everywhere.
Jennifer Baba is a journalist, international news correspondent, and writer at Moderncrux, where she covers artificial intelligence, fintech, emerging technologies, global politics, and international affairs. Based in Nigeria, she is passionate about transforming complex global developments into clear, engaging stories that inform and inspire readers.
