The President of the Nigerian Senate, Ahmad Lawan says a case will be made by the National Assembly for traditional rulers to have official roles.
Lawan, who spoke at the Palace of Emir of Ilorin, Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari, while on a courtesy visit, explained that this would be part of the ongoing review of the Nigerian Constitution
Special Adviser to the Senate President on Media, Ola Awoniyi, disclosed this in a statement titled, “We will push for constitutional roles for traditional rulers – Senate President.”
“We believe, in the ninth National Assembly, that our Royal Fathers must have a role and a better and clearly official role and function in our constitution so that we are able to have an all-inclusive governance structure that will ensure that our Royal Fathers do what they are doing today in a more official manner.
“In the northern part of the country particularly and across the country generally, the traditional institutions play a very key and significant role in stabilising our communities and our societies.
“We believe that these roles must be reflected and properly captured in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
In his response, the Emir of Ilorin, Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari thanked the Senate President for the visit but told his guest that he and his traditional ruler colleagues had no intention to compete with any Institution.
According to him, they were not asking for legislative or judicial roles but just an advisory function.
“What we ask for is advisory participation. We are saying that there should be a Council of traditional rulers who could be sought to give advice and to take part in bringing sanity to the governance of this country,” the Emir said.
The Senate President was in Kwara primarily to attend the launch of the 2022 Empowerment Programme of Senator Sadiq Suleiman Umar who is representing Kwara North Senatorial District in the Ninth Senate.
PIAK
