Kwara emir highlights role of traditional rulers
THE Borno State Government has completed the construction and furnishing of seven residences for emirs who are being relocated from four councils due to the Boko Haram insurgency, the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Babakaka Bashir Garbai, has disclosed.
Similarly, the Emir of Lafiagi in Edu local council of Kwara State, Alhaji Kawu Sa’adu Haliru, yesterday reiterated the importance of traditional rulers as harbingers of peace in the nation.
Garbai said yesterday while inspecting the seven buildings on Bama Road that some of the monarchs affected by insurgency have since relocated to Maiduguri while others visiting the metropolis would have a secure place to attend to their people.
“The Kashim Shettima administration will continue to accord priority to traditional rulers, as they are much closer to the people at the grassroots in the implementation of government policies and programmes,” he said.
“Their wellbeing and security have to be ensured for the massive mobilization of the masses at the grassroots; traditional rulers in this state deserve respect and attention to ensure peaceful co-existence among the various ethnic and religious groups.
“This administration will do everything humanly possible to make their reign very comfortable and successful, so that insurgency in Borno could become a thing of the past.”
Responding, Emat Mohammed Kois, who built the residences, said that all construction work has been completed and that furnishing would be completed before the end of the month.
Haliru, while receiving in audience in his palace the former governor of the state, Senator Bukola Saraki, said that traditional rulers could be used as agents of peace before, during and after general elections across the country, for instance.
“They are our people, we know them very well and we can prevail on them to tow the line of peace, irrespective of the prevailing circumstances. That is why we still believe that we should be given a constitutional role in Nigeria,” he said.
Reminiscing on the bond between his people and the people of Ilorin, he said they would always align with Ilorin in whatever political ideology, adding: “In Lafiagi, we would not renege on the political agreement between our forefathers and the Ilorin people. They were always doing things in common.”
Saraki had spoken on the imperative of good governance as the pivot of viable democracy, stating that his defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) remained the greatest step in his political career.
