Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, has labelled “social media a terrorist organisation” , charging security agencies to crack down on the circulation of fake news through social media platforms.

“Social media is one terrorist organisation,” Mr Abubakar said while speaking at the 7th executive committee meeting of the Northern Traditional Rulers’ Council held in Maiduguri, Borno State, on Wednesday.

The monarch lamented the menace of fake news spread through social media platforms, adding that security agencies must crack down on social media.

“Somebody can sit in the comfort of their home and formulate stories and you will consider that it is true. Social media is a terrorist organisation that we must deal with. Security agencies must deal with this terrorist organisation called social media,” Mr Abubakar said.

The Sultan also condemned the wave of killings in Plateau State and other parts of the country.

“Our coming together as traditional rulers in the North, I believe, we have more than 86 in the North. We will speak with one voice to say ‘enough is enough’ of this senseless killing of innocent people across the North and the country,” Mr Abubakar said.

He added, “We, the traditional rulers, feel bad and saddened when our people are killed by people we don’t know. It’s high time we worked harder, talked to ourselves and in a closed-door meeting, discuss it. We shall advise our political leaders; they are at the helm of affairs and we will work with them.”

Mr Abubakar’s controversial statement about social media echoes the stance of some Nigerian political elites who have pushed for anti-social media laws.

In 2021, former President Muhammadu Buhari banned X (then Twitter), blocking citizens’ access to the micro-blogging platform after the deletion of Mr Buhari’s threat to repeat the civil war genocide in South-East Nigeria.