The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar II, has countered the notion that traditional rulers are afraid of state governors.

The Sultan said traditional rulers were ruling the country even before Nigeria got independence, adding that as monarchs they have more stake and understanding of the country than governors.

The traditional leader stated this at a Stakeholders’ roundtable on Northern Nigerian Youth Development, organized by the Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation, in Abuja, on Tuesday.

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Former Governor of Niger State, Babangida Aliyu, had said traditional rulers were afraid of their governors.

Responding, the Sultan said, “I heard that traditional rulers are afraid of their governors. No, traditional rulers are not afraid of the governors. Traditional rulers are only respecting themselves, respecting the governors who have authority in the various states, not fear.

“Whenever anything is done, we don’t give up. We leave everything to Almighty Allah, who brought changes to the world and we accept changes as they are.

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“Because we all knew before the governors came to be, our institutions had been ruling the present Nigeria since 1914. There was no Nigeria then before we got independence in 1960. So we have more stake as traditional leaders in the country because we know what our people feel and we are honest with them and we don’t run away whenever anything happens.”