Afenifere Accuses Kwara Govt of Denigrating Yoruba Institutions
Abdul Fatah Ahmed
- Threatens protest vote in 2015
By Gboyega Akinsanmi
Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG) has accused the administration of
Governor Abdul Fatah Ahmed of Kwara State of having disdain for rule of
law and disrespect for Yoruba traditional institutions.
The state chapter of the group, in a petition served on the State
Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Abdullahi
Shaaba Umar, and the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Hon. Razak
Atunwa, said government’s recent grading exercise for traditional rulers
reeks of ethnic marginalisation.
The petition was signed by Chief Joe Olarogun, Alhaji Saka Agboola Raji, and Hon. Baba Ba’ako.
All the 70 chieftaincy stools graded by government were in Kwara South senatorial district. Other memoranda from Yoruba rulers in the central and north senatorial districts were ignored because the two districts comprised the Ilorin Emirate.
All the 70 chieftaincy stools graded by government were in Kwara South senatorial district. Other memoranda from Yoruba rulers in the central and north senatorial districts were ignored because the two districts comprised the Ilorin Emirate.
Six monarchs from Asa, Moro and Ilorin East Local Government
Areas-Ohoro of Shao, Oba of Jebba, Alapadoof Apado, Baale of Afon, Dado
of Okeso, and Magaji Aare of Ilorin – submitted memoranda for the
exercise but none was deemed qualified even though “they all met the
criteria set out in the advertisement.”
The group, said government’s insensitive act also “negates historical
and legal accounts in the state. Historically, both Oba of Jebba and
Ohoro of Shao were graded as Third Class chiefs in 1983 along with Elese
of Igbaja (in Kwara South), which today is a first class chief.
“Both rankings were inexplicably withdrawn in 1984 during the military
regime. In 2003, the late Governor Muhammed Lawal restored the rankings
but Governor Bukola Saraki later withdrew them again.
A High Court judgment in January, on The State vs Alhaji Abdulkadir
Adebara, ordered the restoration of Oba of Jebba as a graded chief and
the payment in arrears of his entitlements for the 11 years that the
suit lasted.
The government only recently appealed the judgment; six months after
the statutory 90 days for filing appeal have elapsed. Similarly, there
is a substantive High Court judgment in suit No KWS/231/89 delivered in
1997 to the effect that Moro is not part of the Ilorin Emirate.
The group said the law, as in two cases cited, clearly proves
government’s insensitivity in allowing the emirate to “use state
apparatus to lord it over Yoruba communities” and warned that the
“situation in the state should not be allowed to degenerate into
violence,” as the case was in Kaduna where peace remained elusive until
Governor Ahmed Makarfi created a chiefdom for the Zango Kataf.
This, the petition alleged, was “wanton disregard” aimed at propping,
for undue political gain, “a long jettisoned emirate system, which even
at its bastion in Sokoto Caliphate, previous village/district heads are
now first class emirs; ditto in Kaduna, Jigawa, Kano States.”
The group said the Yoruba communities would employ all democratic means
to achieve justice if the Ahmed administration and All Progressives
Congress (APC) under Senator Saraki fail to address the grievances.
Comments
Post a Comment