A contestant for the stool of Etsu Kwali in Kwali Chiefdom of Kwali Area Council of the FCT, Sanusi Suleiman, has rejected the appointment of Luka Ayedo Nizasaan as the new Etsu Kwali, saying the appointment did not follow due process.
Addressing newsmen in Abuja over the weekend, Sanusi said there wasn’t a scrutiny or voting process by the kingmakers as spelt out by the FCT Administration.
He said it was shocking that Nizassan’s name, who was among five people contesting for the Etsu Kwali stool, was forwarded and approved as the new Etsu Kwali without the consent of the other contestants.
He disclosed that he and two other contestants perceived foul play by the kingmakers to do the bidding of the Area Council chairman, Danladi Chiya, and that they wrote a complaint letter to the FCT Administration.
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He said, “I, alongside two other contestants, wrote a complaint letter to the former FCT Minister of State, Hajiya Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu, who immediately set up a committee headed by the Director of Chieftaincy and Community Development, Awwal Manu Dogon-Daji, to chair the selection process.
“On February 7, 2024, I received a letter inviting me to a stakeholders’ meeting with the Minister of State on the 7th of February, 2024. Unfortunately, the Ona of Abaji, Alhaji Adamu Baba Yunusa, lost one of his cabinet members, as a result of which the meeting did not hold. It was while waiting for the minister to communicate a new date for the meeting that I heard a new Etsu Kwali had been appointed.”
He said it was on that note that he is challenging the appointment of Nizassan as the new Etsu Kwali. He, therefore, called on the FCT minister to intervene for justice to prevail. Meanwhile, the Chairman of Kwali Area Council, Mr Chiya, did not pick up calls or reply to a text message sent to him on the appointment of the new Etsu Kwali.
Daily Trust learnt that the FCT Mandate Secretary for the Area Councils, Lawrence Bitrus Garki, last Friday, in his office, presented the appointment letter to Nizassan as the new second class Etsu Kwali. This was sequel to the approval of the appointment by the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike. It would be recalled that the stool became vacant after the death of Alhaji Shaban Audu Nizazo on December 29, 2023, after a brief illness in a private hospital in Abuja.
We want a new Sarkin Kwali appointed – Heirs of Alhaji Adamu Suleiman Katsina cry out
Heirs of the late Sarkin Kwali, Alhaji Adamu Suleiman Katsina (who was the eldest son of the late Emir of Suleja, Alhaji Sulemanu Barau), have called on the FCT Minister to appoint a successor to their father’s throne, Sarkin Kwali. As is obtainable in other area councils of the FCT, including Bwari chiefdom, the existing structure of the traditional institution in the FCT provides for two separate stools in Kwali chiefdom namely – the Sarkin Kwali and the Etsu Kwali, to run simultaneously.
One of the children of the late Sarkin Kwali and spokesperson of the late monarch’s family, Hudu Adamu, specifically called for the maintenance of the Sarkin Kwali stool in Kwali chiefdom.
According to Hudu, the chiefdom has been in existence since the native authority days in the 1960s through the regional government of Northern Nigeria, Northwestern State, Niger State, and the FCT.
A former minister of the FCT, General J. T. Useni, upgraded the chiefdoms in the FCT via an Edict and appointed Alhaji Adamu Suleiman Katsina as Sarkin Kwali, to whom General Useni presented a second-class staff of office. Hudu, thus, wondered why a chiefdom with a long history of this nature would be left without a successor appointed to the stool of Sarkin Kwali, 25 years after the death of their father.
“Alhaji Adamu Suleiman Katsina died as Sarkin Kwali on September 9, 2009. He was buried in the Sarkin Kwali palace in Unguwar Hausawa ward of Kwali town. The grave is still there.”
Speaking further on the vacant stool of Sarkin Kwali, Hudu said the family had written several mails to the FCT Administration, including the current one, seeking the appointment of one of the children of the late Adamu Suleiman Katsina as a successor to the Sarkin Kwali stool. According to him, the last but one reminder from their family to the FCT Administration was dated January 9, 2024, and addressed to the office of the Minister of State for FCT, Dr Mariya Mahmoud. “No response to the letter has been received,” Hudu said.
Hudu further narrated how the family had continued in the past two and a half decades to write reminders to all those that have served as ministers of the FCT, including Alhaji Musa Muhammad Bello and Hajiya Ramatu Tijjani who both served in the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Hudu explained that the people of Kwali as a community and chiefdom are feeling the vacuum created by the absence of a new Sarkin Kwali, urging the two ministers of the FCT to put heads together and appoint a new Sarkin Kwali, especially considering the role of traditional institutions in the political life of citizens.
While the family of late Alhaji Adamu Suleiman Katsina is asking for the vacant throne of Sarkin Kwali to be filled, Sanusi Suleiman’s family has rejected the appointment of Nizassan as Etsu Kwali.
As it is now, all eyes are on the FCT ministers to look into the grievances surrounding the appointment of the new Etsu Kwali and the plea for the appointment of a successor to the Sarkin Kwali royal stool.
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