The Emir, who spoke in an interview with news men in his Palace, called on members of the National Assembly to recognize them by inserting specific roles for them in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
According to him, traditional rulers are the bedrock of the society to whom people look up for proper leadership without the encumbrance of politics, saying: “if you consider the traditional institutions right from Inception before the colonial administrators came to Nigeria, the traditional institutions have all the security ramifications in their palaces.”
He blamed the colonial administrators whom he said affected both the administrative and military powers of the traditional stools, saying: “they strategically changed the way things are done.
“Therefore, the constitutional arrangements as of now have rendered the traditional institutions helpless.
“Council Chairman is the chief security officer of the local government, he is protected by the constitution; there should had been the traditional institutions to be recognized and protected by the constitution.
“This would have given power, recognition to the traditional institutions instead of living them unrecognised by the constitution.
“As partners maintaining law and order and security, traditional rulers deserve to be recognized and be given certain roles and responsibility backed by the constitution besides the preservation of culture and tradition. The constitution should recognize traditional institutions under national responsibility
“We are not competing with the executive, legislative or judiciary, but traditional institutions should also be given the opportunity to fill other constitutional roles as I said earlier, particularly in ensuring peace and security of the people in their domain and not that when there is problem they are asked to come in, only then and forgotten whenever certain peace is achieved.”
