Yelwa’s 30 years in wilderness without a village head

A 200-year old community in Plateau State with a huge population has been without a village head since the last occupant of the stool passed away.

Why has the community remained headless despite successive government’s promises? Daily Trust reports

Within a fenced property on Ibbi Road in Yelwa village of Shendam Local Government Area of Plateau State is a 40-year old building ruined by many years of rains.

The building has been unoccupied for many years and has been overtaken by tall grasses through which one could see the foundations of a collapsed building that was the residence of the village head of the area, late Adamu Othman.

Yelwa, located in the southern zone of Plateau State, was established in 1824 at Yelwa Mai-Ganuwa (or in Hausa the fenced Yelwa) now referred to as Kufayin Yelwa (or The ruins of Yelwa).

In 1912, the colonial masters forced the settlement to migrate to its present location, almost two kilometres away from Kufayin Yelwa because they wanted to use the old settlement as a base. That never happened eventually.

Yelwa has been a viable centre of commerce with people transacting different business activities such as trading, animal rearing, and transportation. Apart from these, people also engage in commercial agriculture of yam, rice, maize, grants, among other farm produce often transported to other parts of the country.

The last 30 years of Yelwa’s 196-year history have seen the village go without a head since the last village head, Adamu Othman, died on November 26, 1992.

The Late Othman had ruled for almost 40 years before his demise.

For the villagers, 30 years without a village head has taken a toll on the community, they said.

“It has not been easy for us in Yelwa all this while,” Alh. Mairiga Shekarau, a resident of the area, said. “We don’t know why we have been neglected by successive governments without a traditional leader for close to 3 decades. Even those areas where traditional leaders died after Yelwa have had replacements with their crown princes. It is sad whenever I look back to see the stool of the village head of the community vacant.”

In 2004, violent riots broke out between Muslims and Christians in Yelwa in which hundreds of people were killed and properties worth millions destroyed.

Many residents of Yelwa claimed that if there had been a traditional leader, he could have controlled the situation by adjudicating disputes and disagreements.

“A community like Yelwa, going for decades with a huge population and without a village head is prone to the risk of lawlessness because there will be no one to control wrongdoings,” Ismail Salisu Muhammad, a resident, said.

According to the chairman of Yelwa Community Development Association (YCDA), Malam Shu’aibu Maidawa, the struggle for the traditional stool has been on for more than two decades.

“Upon the demise of Othman, the Yelwa Traditional Council duly notified the Plateau State Bureau for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs in the Cabinet Office through the office of the Long Gomai, the Chairman of the Council of Traditional rulers of Shendam, of the vacant state of the stool,” he said.

“The then Long Gomai and the paramount ruler of Shendam Local Government, Miskoom Hubert Shaldas II appointed Usman Abdu as the village head of Yelwa. Conversely, on the 7th of March 1997, the Bureau for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs wrote to the then Sole Administrator of Shendam Local Government Council notifying him of the annulment of the appointment of Malam Usman Abdu during which a formal communication from the LGC, dated 25th July, 1997 was channelled on the receipt of which Abdu ceased to operate as the village head of Yelwa.”

Following that communication, the chairman said the Bureau for Local Government Affairs announced that “The appointment of Abdu as the village head of Yelwa did not follow due government procedure and has contravened the method of selection and approval of a recognized village and district head. Because of that, the appointment or installation of Usman Abdu as the village head of Yelwa by the Long Gomai is hereby revoked.”

Since then, the chairman said the community has continued to follow up at the Bureau concerning the vacant stool.

“It is saddening that series of promises made by previous governors to Yelwa residents have not been fulfilled,” he said.”

He said politicians soliciting votes have often made promises to appoint a head for the community but once they got elected, those promises are not fulfilled.

“In the whole of Plateau State, there is no community as populous as Yelwa that is without a leader,” he said.

Contacted, the District head of Shendam, overseeing Yelwa, Mr Kenneth Kwapsan Kwaptoe who doubles as the Madaki of Shendam, didn’t respond to calls placed on his phone neither did he reply to text messages sent to him by our correspondent.

But the commissioner, Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Mr Silvanus Tapgun said, “You know during the recent instalment of traditional rulers across the state, we have gone round to hear the views of the people, and many communities have requested for the creation of new chiefdoms and districts, like that of Yelwa, the people of the area came with the matter and I have raised the issue during a meeting. Already, a committee has been set up to look at those issues by the government including that of Yelwa. I want to assure you that the government is working on it and that of other areas.

Considering moves by governor Lalong to upgrade chieftaincy titles and install more traditional rulers in various villages in the state, the YCDA wrote an open letter published on Daily Trust of February 10, 2020, to Gov Lalong begging him to address Yelwa’s vacant stool.

The YCDA reminded the governor of the promise he made to instal a traditional ruler in Yelwa during his 2015 electioneering campaign in a town hall meeting held in the community.

The YCDA, in the said letter, said the community could not understand why the chieftaincy seat has been vacant for years as there is no legal dispute within the ruling clan or any indication of unwillingness by the people of Yelwa to have a new village head appointed for them.

But Lalong in his recent pronouncement while presenting 2nd and 3rd class staff of office to Adagwom Isere, Mr Emmanuel Ajik, and the Gwom Ibaas, Da Luka Pagyang Pam respectively in Jos, on December 16, 2019, said restoring, upgrading and creation of more traditional institutions would be part of his administration’s priority.

Ja’afaru Abdullahi is a member of the Dikko ruling family in Yelwa.

“We have made numerous efforts at the Local Government and the Bureau for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs where we consulted the Long Gomai of Shendam who is the paramount ruler and the Chairman of the Shendam LGA Traditional Councils,” he said. “We have also consulted the incumbent district heads of Shendam including some of the past LGA chairmen to facilitate the reinstatement of the village head of Yelwa Community but our efforts are to yield any positive result.”

Abdullahi appealed to the governor to finally address the issue in the interest of justice.

While commenting on behalf of the Sa’adu ruling family, Jibrin Idris Sa’adu said, “We have made tremendous efforts as a family to reach out to relevant stakeholders to have a village head title but to no avail.”

Despite these appeals, the people of Yelwa still have a while to wait before an occupant of the vacant stool is chosen and the long grass at the house of the village head is cleared.