Amirul Mu’minin Sheikh as Sultan Muhammadu Sa’adu Abubakar III is the 20th Sultan of Sokoto. As Sultan of Sokoto, he is considered the spiritual leader of Nigeria’s 75.7 million Muslims, who account for roughly 50 percent of the
nation’s population. Although the position of Sultan of Sokoto has become largely ceremonial, the holder is still a central figure for Nigerian Muslims.
Lineage Back to Sheikh Usman Dan Fodio
The Sultan of Sokoto is the spiritual leader of Nigeria’s enormous Muslim community. He gains this position by lineage. Abubakar is the 20th heir to the two-century-old throne founded by his ancestor, Sheikh Usman Dan Fodio. Dan Fodio (1754-1817 CE) was a scholar, leader of the Maliki school of Islam and the Qadiri branch of Sufism, and Islamic reformer of the nineteenth century. Dan Fodio believed that Islam should have a more central role in the life of the people of West Africa and led an uprising to institute the changes he sought. His figure and his writings are a very important chapter in the history of Islam in West Africa, and Abubakar, by lineage, holds a key place in West African Islam, and particularly for the Fulani and Hausa people who followed Dan Fodio.
An Illustrious Family
The position currently does carry with it some weight—though largely ceremonial since British colonial rule diminished its political significance. Much of this clout is derived from the respect that was earned by Siddiq Abu Bakar Dan Usman—17th Sultan and father of Abubakar—who held the Sultanate for over fifty years. The rule of Abubakar’s father from 1938 to 1988 earned the position significant social capital and popularity with ordinary Muslims.
Administrative Power
Abubakar holds important administrative influence in Nigerian religious life. Abubakar is the titular ruler of Sokoto in northern Nigeria and is also the head of the Nigerian National Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs. Leadership of this council means that the Sultan of Sokoto remains the only figure that can legitimately claim to speak on behalf of all Nigerian Muslims. This role has become increasingly influential over the years with a rise in interreligious tensions between Nigeria’s Muslim-majority north and Christian-majority south.
Boko Haram
The Sultan has started many initiatives to counter and reduce the influence of the Boko Haram terrorist group, including inviting an international joint Muslim-Christian Delegation to visit Nigeria.
Vice President Namadi Sambo has commiserated with the Sultan of Sokoto Sa'ad Abubakar III over the loss of Hajiya Hafsatu Abubakar, the wife of the late Sultan of Sokoto Siddiq Abubakar III. The deceased died on May, 15 at the age of 72 years after a ...and more »
Sokoto — Concerned by the lingering problem of almajiri especially in the northern part of the country, Sultan of Sokoto Alhaji Muhammad Sa'ad Abubakar yesterday called on parents to desist from giving their children to itinerant teachers for ...
The Sultan who also donated 100 copies of the Holy Quaran to the prison mosque equally noted that prison was a place meant to reform people and not for punishment. He advised inmates to be God- fearing and stay away from crime as well as all negative ...
SOKOTO - The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa'ad Abubakar III, has urged parents to stop giving their children to itinerant teachers for Qur'anic education. Abubakar said this in Sokoto at the opening of a one-day national symposium on the almajiri ...
He sent his Iranian partners photos of the Chabad House in Lagos as well as the USAID offices, and told them that they should attack former military ruler Ibrahim Babangida as well as Islamic spiritual leader the Sultan of Sokoto to “unsettle the West”.
The call came just as President Goodluck Jonathan, Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammad Sa'ad Abubakar, Arewa Elders and Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, showered encomiums on the Emir, describing him as a symbol of Nigeria's unity and embodiment ...
... Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and now Director of the Centre for Regional Integration and Development, CRID, in Abuja), the publication (dated 2011 but only just started circulating), was facilitated by His Eminence the Sultan of Sokoto Alhaji ...
Obviously the Presidency and the PDP bosses were not happy with that, and while the huge crowd waited at Sokoto's Sultan Abubakar III Airport, the Nigeria Airspace Management Agency [NAMA] diverted Wamakko's chartered plane from its course to Sokoto ...
The Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has started putting finishing touches to the Sultan Saddik Abubakar (SSA III) International Airport, Sokoto in furtherance of the ongoing remodeling project. The 30- year old remodeled SSA III, which is ...and more »
Earlier in his remark, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa'ad Abubakar III, thanked President Goodluck Jonathan for giving the necessary support for the success of the programme. He prayed for a lasting peace and stability in the three states under the ...
The Arab Spring events have not significantly affected the influence of the Sultan.
Citizen of: Nigeria
Birth: 24 August 1956 (Age: 56)
Source of Influence: Administration of Religious Affairs, Philanthropy, Charity & Development
Influence: Central figure for 75.7 million Nigerian Muslims
School of Thought: Maliki, Traditional Sunni
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