The selection of a new occupant of the 30-year-old Long Kwo stool in Kwo chiefdom of Qu’a Pan Local Government Area of Plateau State kicked off with 16 princes vying for the position.
Benue/Plateau Trust reports that the kingmakers converged on the palace of the chiefdom, where they are expected to choose and recommend one of the contestants to the local government chairman for approval.
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There was jubilation among the residents when the state government announced that the process of choosing a new traditional ruler would start yesterday.
Some of the residents trooped to their various places of worship to pray for a successful completion of the exercise.
The chiefdom has been without a paramount ruler since July 1988, after the demise of the last occupant of the seat, then of third class status, Miskoom Hoomkwap II.
Before the announcement of the date of the selection, about 17 princes from the four ruling houses of Kaskang, Lakwaram, Npoema and Nuku, indicated interest to contest.
Among the contestants are Miskoom Larry Peters Bawa, a businessman and the executive director of Duncan Group of Companies and chairman, Lamebakena Properties, Ghana; Miskoom Hubert Isa, a retired civil servant; Miskoom Cornelius Shekarau, a former banker and businessman; Miskoom Danladi Nkup, a farmer, and Miskoom John Aloko, a retired civil servant.
Others are Yahaya Kwande, a former Nigeria’s Ambassador to Switzerland, whose ambition to occupy the seat was thwarted in 1990 because of procedural lapses in his selection; Miskoom Linus Layi Anden, the immediate past acting general manager of the Plateau Express Services Ltd; Colonel Fidelis Attahiru, a retired army officer, now businessman; Casmier Angulu, a retired civil servant, and Hycent Isa Wambai, a farmer.
Also on the list of contestants are the children of the last Long Kwo. They are Miskoom John Hoomkwap and Miskoom Ibrahim Hoomkwap. Others are Miskoom Benedict Bamshal Mairiga, a medical doctor; Miskoom Shintoe Kwallat; Miskoom Martin Musa Dunggu; Miskoom Noel Niyu Dongkiem, and Miskoom Kenneth Isa, a civil servant in the Plateau State Government.
Whoever emerges from Thursday’s selection shall become the 27th Long Kwo.
Residents said the new Long Kwo shall have the task of uniting a people, most of who had not experienced the role of a traditional ruler.
Kwo chiefdom, a Goemai settlement with capital at Moekwo (Kwande) is located in Qua’an-Pan Local Government Area of Plateau State. Its area covers the villages of Luukwo (Barkin Ciyawa), Nagan (Kurgwi), Turniang, Npap, among others.
The area, a district, was upgraded to a chiefdom of third class status on April 3, 1981 (while maintaining its district position) by the administration of the late Chief Solomon Daushep Lar in his emancipation programme.
In the course of history, the chiefdom was ruled by 26 kings. The first was Miskoom Atua (Ntuan).
After the last Long Kwo, attempts to have a new traditional in the chiefdom were thwarted by intrigues among the princes of the four ruling houses of Kaskang, Lakwaram, Npoema and Nuku.
