Appointment of Emir Is Statutory Role of State Govt – IBB
Former Military President, General Ibrahim Babangida (rtd) has stated that the Federal Government has no role to play in the appointment of traditional rulers in the country even as he noted that it was the responsibility of the state government to appoint Emir of Kano.
IBB, who spoke on the backdrop of
controversy surrounding the selection of a new Emir of Kano, congratulated the former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi on his emergence as the new Emir, saying it was an act of God.
On the alleged involvement of the Federal Government in the siege on the emir’s palace in Kano, the former military president, who spoke from his uphill residence in Minna, Niger State on Thursday, said: “I am glad you used that word alleged, as an elder statesman, I don’t work on allegation. Fortunately, I have ask them both the federal and state government to know exactly what is happening”.
According to IBB, “I think everybody has a particular function. I don’t believe the federal government has a role to play in the appointment of the Emir or something as long as the due process is followed by the state government. We have no option than to accept the outcome of the process. I appeal to the people in the name of this country to give peace a chance. “Everything cannot be settled if peace did not reign”.
On the protest against that greeted the appointment of Lamido he said, “For someone like me I think it is a normal tradition. We found this happening in quite a number of places; there was a case like that before back in the 60s. I think what is most important is that we need to realise that whatever you don’t get in the peace time you can’t get it when there is no peace. God made him the Emir and so I don’t see why people cannot come together and support who is the Emir in the interest of the state and for the interest of this
country.
“Well, I also want to congratulate the new Emir who happens to be from the same family with the former Emir; they are all children of Malam Ibrahim Dabo so I want to congratulate the present one and to pray that he should live up to the expectation of the majority of
the people”.
He stated that his prayer for the new Emir of Kano is for God to grant him the wisdom and knowledge to perform or even supersede his grandfather and his late uncle Alhaji Ado Bayero, who he described as a distinguished Emir.
