Speakers at a colloquium organised to mark the 27th year on the throne of the Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari on Thursday, have called for constitutional role for traditional rulers in the country.
At the event organised by the Kwara State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in collaboration with the Ilorin Emirate Council, the speakers including academia, jurists and technocrats, also said the roles of the monarch in maintaining security in their domains should be further enhanced.
They harped on the need for government to fashion out constitutional roles for traditional rulers to enable them bail the country out of its hydraheaded security problems.
Speakers at the event included Professor Ibrahim Jawondo, Engr. Yusuf Sagaya, a retired security chief, Alhaji Aliyu Otta-Othman, Justice Salihu Mohammed and Kwara NUJ chairman, Ahmed AbdulLateef.
The Emir was represented at the event by the most senior high chief in Ilorin Emirate, the Balogun Gambari of Ilorin, Alhaji Aliyu Adebayo.
Meaningfully Involved
The guest lecturer, Prof Ibrahim Jawondo of the University of Ilorin said that traditional rulers should be meaningfully involved in the act of governance.
“Experiences have shown that involvement of traditional rulers in act of governance will go a long way in solving some teething problems in Nigeria. Thus, it will be better if constitutional roles are fashioned out for traditional rulers rather than the fire-fighting and adhoc engagements given to them,” Jawondo said.
The university don also said that honorary titleholders should seek deeper meaning of the responsibilities of the titles conferred on them and act most appropriately, explaining that the step would help the traditional rulers the more in administrating their domains.
“The hereditary rulers need to do more in their supervisory roles at their territories to curb social vices which continue to be on the increase on daily basis. Greed resulting into injustice should be shunned to regain their lost glories. Kudus to the Emir who ruled that they must stay at their various posts,” he said.
The state chairman of NUJ, Abdullateef Ahmed, said that people could not but celebrate the Emir of Ilorin because of the importance an average Ilorin indigene attaches to his historical turbaning event also admirably referred to as 11/11.
The NUJ chairman said that the emirate in the past 27 years had undergone different phases of development in physical and nonphysical.
However, he asked indigenes of the state capital to collectively proffer solution the teething problem of insecurity, unemployment, rising cost of living and the usual threat to peaceful coexistence, as the 2023 general elections approaches.
The chairman of the occasion and Zannan of Ilorin, Engr. Yusuf Sagaya who was represented by Alh Ibrahim Salman, noted that Ilorin Emirate has witnessed peace and unprecedented growth in the past 27 years.
The chairman of Ilorin Emirate Descendants Progressive Union (IEDPU), Alhaji Aliyu Otta- Othman described the Emir as a kindhearted leader who always feels and shares in the pains of his subjects.
A former Grand Khadi of the state, Justice Salihu Mohammed, corroborated Otta-Othman, acknowledging the positive role the Emir played in his career as a judicial officer.
Lateefah Ibrahim
