Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and governors of Kano and Plateau states, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje and Simon Bako Lalong, respectively, have called on the traditional rulers to reexamine their roles in ensuring peace and security in the country.
They spoke on Tuesday at the 2022 Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Lecture in Kano with the theme, “Reviving the Northern Traditional Institutions – Imperative for Peace and Security in Northern Nigeria.”
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Osinbajo noted that the emirate system of northern Nigeria was a well-structured institution with a network of community leaders to help sustain peace and security throughout their domain.
He said the president had on numerous occasions reiterated that traditional institutions played important roles in promoting peace and security.
“Given their familiarities to local environments, traditional institutions are integral to our nationwide programme of community policing and can deliver valuable intelligence to state authorities,” the VP said.
He added that the government had remained resolute in its fight against terrorists and insurgents, adding that recent efforts had focused on deploying technology for surveillance and intelligence gathering.
Also speaking, Lalong, who is also the Chairman of the Northern Governors Forum lamented that some traditional rulers who spoke against the activities of criminals had also become victims, calling on the security agencies to do more in the security of the lives of all Nigerians.
He said the forum hoped that the proposals of its committee headed by Emir of Lafia already submitted to the National Assembly would be incorporated in the constitution amendment.
On his part, the governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, while speaking on the recommendations made by the emir, including reviving the traditional institution by learning how the colonial leaders used it to administer Nigeria, said Nigeria had become more complicated than the time when colonial leaders were administering the country.
“I think in order to revive the institution, some contemporary issues in our modern Nigeria must be considered like the issue of succession and education,” Ganduje added.
In his lecture, the Emir of Lafia, Justice Sidi Bage (Retd), stressed that the time had come to restore the traditional leaders’ role as it was during the precolonial era to maximise their contributions especially in view of the prevailing security challenges in the country.
He also recommended that the removal of traditional leaders should no longer be an arbitrary act of the executive but must only be when the traditional ruler had violated the constitution or extant law of the state and that the judiciary should be given the role of enquiring into the allegations.
Discussing the paper, a former Chief Judge of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Justice Ishaq Bello, said politicians should understand that the traditional institution was there to maintain the fabric of peace in the society.
On his part, the Emir of Kano, Aminu Ado Bayero said implementing the recommendations made in the presentation of the emir should not be seen as doing favours to the traditional institution but for the society.
The Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar III, appreciated the commentaries from all speakers and specifically said, “We totally agree with so many things if not everything you have said today in your lecture.
“This is because both Buhari and all the governors have always acknowledged the importance of the traditional institution.”
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