06
Aug
Aug
MIDDLE BELT FORUM REJECTS SULTAN OF SOKOTO AS PERMANENT CO-CHAIRMAN OF NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR TRADITIONAL RULERS
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CapitalTimesNews / 2 weeks
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- 3 min read
The Middle Belt Forum (MBF) has expressed its firm opposition to a contentious clause in the National Council for Traditional Rulers of Nigeria (Establishment) Bill, 2024, currently before the National Assembly. In a statement signed by its National Spokesman, Luka Binniyat, the MBF described the proposal to make the Sultan of Sokoto a permanent co-chairman of the proposed national traditional council as an affront to the region’s diverse cultural heritage and a distortion of Nigeria’s historical realities. Luka Binniyat said the MBF unequivocally rejects, abhors, and condemns the institutionalization of the Sultan of Sokoto as a permanent co-chairman of the proposed council. Binniyat emphasized that the rejection is anchored on strong historical, cultural, constitutional, and moral grounds. The MBF argued that the Sokoto Sultanate is historically junior to Middle Belt monarchies, citing the Kwararafa Confederacy, which flourished for centuries before the Caliphate. The Aku Uka of Wukari, its current spiritual heir, represents a legacy that predates the Sokoto Caliphate’s existence. Binniyat noted that the Sultan of Sokoto cannot supersede the Aku Uka of Wukari in status and prestige to seat over him as Chairman of the Traditional Council created by law. The Forum also highlighted the Attah of Igala’s higher historical and traditional status, the Tor Tiv’s powerful and independent cultural identity, and the Nupe Kingdom’s precedence over the Sokoto Caliphate. Additionally, the MBF emphasized that the Sultan’s role is primarily religious, serving as the spiritual leader of Nigerian Muslims, and questioned the appropriateness of placing a religious figure at the head of a secular national council. The MBF further raised concerns over the Sultan’s patronage of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association (MACBAN), an organization linked to violent Fulani herdsmen accused of killings and displacement in the region. Binniyat stated that the Sultan’s failure to clearly distance himself from MACBAN’s alleged atrocities rendered him unfit for the position. In light of the above, the MBF stated emphatically that if the Senate passes the bill with the contentious clause and it is assented to by the President, they will mobilize all ethnic nationalities across the Middle Belt to boycott participation in the Council. Traditional rulers of the Middle Belt will neither recognize nor attend meetings of a Council whose leadership is permanently skewed in favor of a non-indigenous, religiously aligned, and lesser monarch status to their traditional rulers. To preserve national unity and fairness, the MBF proposed that the chairmanship of the council be rotational, tenure-based, or democratically decided by the traditional rulers themselves. “The Middle Belt Forum stands firm in its belief that true national cohesion can only be achieved through fairness, mutual respect, and recognition of our rich historical diversities,” the statement concluded.