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Tag: royalty

  • Royalty: Elerinmo seeks renewed human dignity in leadership roles

    Royalty: Elerinmo seeks renewed human dignity in leadership roles

    His Royal Majesty, Oba Dr. Michael Odunayo Ajayi JP, the Elerinmo of Erinmo in Osun State, has called for renewed focus on human dignity and social recognition among government, traditional, and religious leaders. 

    He emphasised the important role traditional rulers play in upholding social and human dignity, ensuring everyone feels included.

    Oba Arowotawaya II attended the 11th Annual Conference on Law and Religion in Africa (ACLARS) as a royal guest, held in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, from May 19 to 21, 2024. He was also a special guest in the Eswatini Kingdom for a religious peace prayer programme.

    The ACLARS conference gathered high-level diplomats, professors, academics, and religious leaders, with over 130 participants from more than 40 countries, including the USA, UK, Greece, and various African nations. Oba Elerinmo was the only royal father among the dignitaries present.

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    The Osun monarch representing the African Consortium for Law and Religion Studies at the conference delivered a thought-provoking lecture with the theme: “Heroes or Villains? Law, Religion, and the Role of Traditional Leaders in the Struggle for Human Dignity in Pre-Colonial and Colonial Africa.” 

    Oba Elerinmo in his lecture, spoke about the significant roles African kings and queens played as royal adjudicators in enforcing human dignity, peace and order in their domain and among their subjects before the incursion of colonialists.

    He laid emphasis on how these African royalties fought against colonial oppression and imposition of obnoxious laws that affected their existing traditional constitutions.

    Shedding light on historical figures like Queen Nzinga of Ndongo-Matamba, the Ashanti King of Ghana, the Fon resistance of Dahomey, and King Lobengula of Ndebele, Oba Elerinmo explored how their roles at that time  may have impacted society and their present status of alienation and exclusion from the Constitutions of most African countries with few exceptions of South Africa and Burkina Faso.

    He said: “There seems to us in our vantage point as traditional rulers that there is a fresh contemplation of what roles, if any, the traditional leaders, and institutions could play in the economic, social, and kingdoms cultural development of Africa’s nascent states.”

    Elerinmo’s speech mirrored into the arrival of Portuguese colonizers in the Kingdom of Kongo in 1488, highlighting Queen Nzinga’s unwavering resistance. He also explored the rise of the Ashanti Kingdom in the 17th century under King Tutu and advisor Okamfo Anokye, the Fon resistance against French rule in Dahomey, and the lasting legacy of King Lobengula’s Ndebele Kingdom in Zimbabwe.

    He also noted that African Kingdoms and political systems had fully developed sophisticated governance structures suitable to their economic and social needs, that it was the advent of colonial rule that interrupted this trajectory.

    “Whether it was British, French, or Portuguese colonialism, the impact on traditional rulership and the fortunes of their people varied. So too did the reactions of traditional kings and chiefs vary in levels of acceptance, compromise, or resistance. 

    “Our thesis in this presentation is that African traditional rulers, for the most part, conducted themselves by their sacred duties as leaders and protectors of their peoples against the overwhelming odds of a race bent on conquest and subjugation of other races,” Elerinmo said.

    Oba Elerinmo further mentioned that African Kings and Queens were leading their people to achieve their local goals, unmindful that racist European governments had divided African lands and resources amongst themselves. 

    “With the benefit of hindsight, the fate of African Countries was sealed at the Berlin Conference in 1885. With this understanding among the White Powers, each colonialist was given a blank check to take that which had been allocated to it at the conference. 

    “It is not a mere coincidence that many of Africa’s heroic Kings and Queens exhibited their resistance to that tidal wave of European political and military power in the late 19th century,” concludes Oba Ajayi.

    Meanwhile, Elerinmo on the same Southern Africa trip, proceeded to Eswatini kingdom (former Swaziland) on an invitation by his majesty, King Mswati III, to participate on a peace prayer programme hosted by the Nazareth Baptist Church. He was also received by the Zulu king, Misuzulu KaZwelithini.

    The epoch visits which was hinged on cultural exchange and understanding was Elerinmo’s far reaching effort to connect Africans monarch and kingdoms culturally.

    The two monarchs who has exhbited uncommon affinity and enthusiasm with Elerinmo’s brotherly gesture have been invited to grace Elerinmo’s 10th Coronation anniversary coming up in August this year.

    Oba Ajayi was also received by Nigerians and other West African communities resident in Eswatini, including representatives from Cameroon, Congo, Nigeria, and Ghana. 

    He was also welcomed at his hotel by the Eswatini Minister of Foreign Affairs, while bilateral discussions with King Mswati III focused on cultural exchange and cooperation between their kingdoms.

    Throughout his tour, Oba Ajayi consistently emphasised the critical role of law and religion in upholding human dignity. His participation in the annual conference exemplified the collaborative efforts of traditional leaders, academics, and religious figures in tackling contemporary issues with roots in the past.

  • The beleaguered royalty

    The beleaguered royalty

    • By Olabode Lucas

    The British Royalty is perhaps the most visible and most discussed institution in the world. Its influence and admiration extend beyond the shores of Great Britain where it’s domiciled, and also beyond Commonwealth countries where the British monarch is the ceremonial head. The whole world revers this British institution and it was therefore not surprising when the French President, Emmanuel Macron, described Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain as the ‘Queen of the World’ when the Queen died in 2002.

    In view of the huge and extraordinary fascination the whole world has for the British Royalty, any news about the royalty and its members dominates the air waves and newspaper headlines all over the world and such news usually temporarily keeps the world at a standstill. It was therefore not surprising that the recent announcement by Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales that she has been diagnosed for cancer gripped the whole world, with millions all over the world sending messages of sympathy to her.

    Before this disclosure by the Princess of Wales about her health situation, she was known to be recovering from abdominal surgery which she undertook at a high brow London clinic in January. Her medical conditions had before then led to unrelenting probing by the usually ubiquitous British and international press.  She did not help matters by posting a Mother’s Day family photograph on March 10, which many press organizations considered to be manipulated. She later apologized for this unedifying action.  In order to give the impression that all was well with her health, she posted a photograph of her and her husband, Prince Williams in a car on the street of Windsor.

    The news that Kate, the Princess of Wales is having cancer would no doubt be a big blow to the British royalty. This is really a bad time for the institution. On February 5, the King, Charles III himself was announced to be afflicted with cancer after he has had a prostate surgery although his doctors told the world that the cancer was not related to the prostate. Subsequently, the king’s public appearances were cancelled, and he has been restricted to Buckingham Palace for routine royal activities. The public appearance of Princess of Wales too, has been cancelled for the foreseeable future because of the unsavoury development in her health situation. There is no doubt that this is a very bad development for the British royalty because the princess who is now the most glamorous member of the royal family after the departure of Princess Diana is sick. She and King Charles are the most adored members of the British royal family. British royalty thrives on its organic connection to the British people.

    With the king and the Princess of Wales out of public glare, the appearances of members of the British royalty are now unduly limited. Most the public duties of the royalty would now be carried out by Prince Williams who is the heir apparent.  In carrying out this task, he would no doubt be distracted by his wife’s health situations. Prince Williams would no doubt be assisted by Queen Camilla who is already representing her husband in some events.  Princess Anne, the Princess Royale and Prince Edward, the new Duke of Edinburgh would also now appear more in the public. Prince Harry and his wife Meghan who have stepped back from royal duties and the disgraced Prince Andrew are not likely to carry out any royal duties during this period.

    King Charles III, who waited to be king for many years, became King of Great Britain at the age of 75 on September 2022 after the death of her mother, Queen Elizabeth II. He had his coronation in May 2023 and nine months later he was found to have cancer. The king’s doctors have not told the world whether the cancer is life-threatening or benign. The British royalty despite the glamour and pomp and pageantry associated with it, is not immune to the tension, frustration, family rivalry and medical afflictions common in any ordinary family anywhere in the world. The British royal family has recorded many high-profile divorces. Queen Elizabeth II’s sister, Princess Margaret divorced her husband, David Armstrong-Jones in 1978, while Princess Anne, the Queen only daughter and once the second in the line of succession divorced her husband Mark Phillips in 1992 and remarried the same year. The most celebrated divorce in British royalty was the one between the then Prince Charles who is now the king and Lady Diana Frances Spencer popularly referred to as Lady D. Prince Charles and Lady Diana married in on July 29, 1981, and divorced in 1996. Prince Charles subsequently married her heart throb, Camilla Bowles in 2005. 

    Diana was a glamourous lady who brought excitement and life into the otherwise conservative British royalty. Princess Diana was loved by millions of people all over the world and the way he was treated by the British royalty when she died on April 31, 1997 almost brought down the royalty. It took the genial apologetic personality of Queen Elizabeth II to douse the tension generated by the indifference of the royalty to the death.

    The British royalty has also been involved in scandals over the years. The latest is the scandal caused by Prince Andrew, the Duke of York through his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, the American millionaire sex offender. A woman by the name Virginia Giuffre said she was forced to have sex with Prince Andrew as an underage in 2001. This revelation was embarrassing to the British royalty especially Queen Elizabeth II who settled the case in 2002 at a very high financial cost. Prince Andrew although divorced, was a prince with a promise and well-focused. He served as a naval officer who served gallantly during the Falkland War. For the embarrassment he brought to the British royalty, he was stripped of his royal duties and subsequently became the black sheep of the family.

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    The House Windsor known before 1971 as the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha is the official name of British royal family and it was kept from falling apart through the ingenuity and placid personality of the legendary Queen Elizabeth II who reigned for 70 years and 214 days.  She was loved by her people and millions of people around the globe. It is known that she never uttered any displeasing and offensive word in public throughout her reign. With her death and the ascension of her son Prince Charles to the throne, the future of the British royalty is now a subject of speculations.

    Many people especially young ones have doubt about its survival in this modern era where royalty is considered archaic. In Great Britain, a little over 10% wants the monarchy to be abolished. During the recent coronation of Charles III, many people carried placards with inscription “Charles is not my King.”

    The present dicey health situation of King Charles III less than a year after his coronation, coupled with health problem of Kate, the Princess of Wales cast an ominous shadow on the future of British royalty.  Also, the sex scandal involving Prince Andrew and the rivalry and cold war between Prince Williams and Prince Harry are still festering and damaging the image of the British royalty. With all these, British royalty appears beleaguered.

    • Prof Lucas writes from Old Bodija, Ibadan.

  • Royalty meets clergy at wedding

    It was a marriage of royalty and clergy when Oluwole Sosanya and Ifedapo Akanbi-Oluwa tied the nuptial knot amid pomp and ceremony in Lagos. In this report, EVELYN OSAGIE captures the sights and sounds of the event.

    As the saying goes, sometimes you fall in love with the most unexpected person at the most unexpected time. This certainly holds true for Oluwole Sosanya and his beau, Ifedapo Akanbi-Oluwa, who both signed the dotted lines at a high-profile wedding in Lagos.

    Oluwole, suave and gentlemanly, is a scion of Omooba Olumuyiwa Abayomi Sosanya of the Isara Remo ruling house in Ogun State. Ifedapo, on the other hand, is a stunning beauty from Iseyin town of Oyo State, whose parents have a long history of service in the Lord’s vineyard as clerics of faith-based institutions: she is the daughter of Rev. Paul Abiodun and Mrs. Elizabeth Akanbi-Oluwa of New Covenant Church, Ebute-Metta branch, Lagos.

    But providence brought the lovebirds together.

     

    The meeting

     

    When Oluwole first met Ifedapo at a social gathering organised by one of his friends three years ago, the last thing on his mind was marriage.

    As a royal blood, the tradition was that if he needed a life partner, he would choose from his kind. But Oluwole did not subcribe to this culture.

    “I wasn’t really keen on marrying from the royal family as such. All I wanted was a wife  from anywhere, regardless of her social status and, luckily, for me, Ifedapo turned out to be a perfect fit for me,” the International Business Economics graduate of the University of Westhampton England, said.

     

    The solemnisation

     

    The three-part ceremony, which held at the  highbrow Yard 158 Garden, Lagos, was heralded by a traditional wedding with families and friends in attendance. Then, followed the church wedding where the couple and their bridal train led by the best man, Power Hart, and maid of honour, Abiola Akeredolu, were welcomed to the venue in a blaze of glory as confetti lined their paths. Also on the train were the ring bearer, Olakabi Delano; Ladun Baderinwa; Olusayo Adeleke; Phidelia Imiegha; Emem Williams; Oladele Oladunjoye; Kolawole Alakija; Muiz Ogbara; Ronald Ajiboye; and little bride, Abifoluwa Oloruntoye.

    The solemnisation began with officiating clerics of the New Covenant Church. They were Rev Nicholas Omisade, Rev Oluwole Olaleye, Rev  Gboyaga Adejobi, Rev David Abraham, Rev Abba Peter, Rev Akin Ayoola, Pastor Phil Osanakpo, Pastor David Oluwadairo and Pastor David Aderinola Oloruntoye.

     

    The vows

     

    The couple were wedded by Rev. Omisade.

    Subsequently, Rev Wole Owolabi, the Provost of New Covenant Church Bible College, who delivered the homily, encapsulated his advice in a five-letter word, ALIVE, urging the groom: “Love for a woman is not just what you say, but what you do. Love her in language, love her in looks. Love to a woman translates to kindness. Be kind to her. Locate her passion and be part of it. A woman moves by intuition, but a man moves by calculation. But wise men are learning that intuitions most times are more accurate than calculation.

    “Let her know she is a part of your life and not an appendage. Say to her, ‘I’m going to smoothen you with love’. If you do all these to your woman, she would come alive. I perceive that I’m looking at a family that would be a role model to their generations.”

    The couple were ushered into the reception auditorium with fireworks and pyrotechnics, which lit up the atmosphere in a kaleidoscope. The event  was chaired by a lawyer, Aderemi Oguntoye, who represented Nigeria’s former High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Dr. Christopher Kolade, .

    The best part is always the emotional part and that was when Ifedapo and her dad had their last dance.

    As the famous Nel Oliver’s famous lyrics, Mon enfant, ma baby girl, began playing and the bride and dad got to the dancefloor, the rendition evoked mixed emotions.

    The couple and parents also had their day on the floor with guests serenading them with applauses.

     

    The marital advices

     

    Oguntoye decried the increasing number of broken marriages and asked couples to work towards building a happy home. According to the chairman, if the efforts and resources expended on wedding ceremonies were worth it, many marriages would have been saved.

    He said: “We live in a social media generation where people spend most time on wedding ceremonies, but they spend less energy on marriage itself. Marriage is about love and work. People must be ready to sacrifice and make it work. Ifedapo and Oluwole after today’s ceremony, I want you to take a look at yourself and say, ‘I will spend time to reflect on my marriage’ I pray that the Lord will give the couple the grace to make their marriage work; and that God in His infinite mercies would bless those of us witnessing this.”

    He recounted that: “As a legal practitioner and I have been privileged to witness orchestrated number of divorce cases. I have been counsel to nothing less than 17 divorce matters and I’m talking about situations of marriages that are between one year and 15 years. The only one I had to turn down was a petition by a man who wanted me to dissolve his 37-year- old marriage.

    “I turned it down and I said to the man, why would you want to throw away a relationship that has existed for 37 years? And the man said, Aburo (young man) I need to live my life. It’s not worth it anymore. That is where I want to take my advice from. Ifedapo and Oluwole, the Lord will help you. Just make sure you work it out. Marriage is meant to be enjoyed, but you must make it work. In all my experience, one of the key denominators the man always complains about is, ‘I have lost her respect’. A man does not demand love, men demand respect.”

    In his message to the newlywed,  obstetrician and gynecologist and member of the Lagos Governor Advisory Council (GAC), Dr Oluyomi Abayomi Finnih, said: “They should show love to each other. The wife should respect the man and the husband should do the same too. And they shouldn’t allow third parties into their affairs. And I wish them God’s blessings.”

    The groom’s father, Omooba Sosanya, also  advised the couple, reinforcing what the cleric said. “My advice to my son and daughter is that they should live together as friends.

    They should show love and understanding to each other. Although they come from two different families, they can live together as one happy family, if the love is there,” he admonished.

    Echoing similar sentiments, the bride’s parents also gave their last words. “Our advice to them is to love God and each other and work their marriage out. And they should know that understanding is shown from above with the help of God. We are releasing them as a solution to Nigeria to affect their generation positively and to change this nation for good.”

    Senator Gbenga Ashafa also advised the couple. “As I always tell young couple that are getting married, I use one word – that is love.

    They must endeavour to love each other and then have the fear of God. Once they imbibe these principles, it will be easy for them to tolerate each other because they are coming from different backgrounds. My prayer for the newly wedded couple is that they will find everything to make their marriage succeed in all ramifications. I’m talking about enduring peace, money and of course, long life and abundant prosperity.”

    The ceremony was high-octane judging by the calibre of guests who attended. Among the guests were wife of Senator Ashafa, Sade; Chief Whip Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon. Rotimi Abiru; Lagos APC deputy governorship candidate, Hon. Obafemi Hamzat; members of the Lagos State Governor’s Advisory Council (GAC), including former Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Prince Abiodun Ogunleye, Prince Tajudeen Olusi; Prince Rafiu Oluwa; Otunba Bashura Alebiosu; High Chief M. O. Taiwo, Asiwaju Reuben Bashorun and Prof Babatunde Samuel and Chief Lanre Rasak, popularly known as KLM.

    Others were a lawyer and the state Legal Adviser of the Lagos APC,  Ademola Sadiq; Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) Director of Accounts, Mrs Adenike Ganiat Akanbi; Rear Admiral Toye Sode (rtd); CSS Bookshop Limited Managing Director, Dare Oluwatuyi, and the Deputy Managing Director, Mr Adesina Adegbola.

     

  • Royalty and Politics

    Looking at a king’s mouth, one would think he never sucked at his mother’s breast”, observes an old man in Things Fall Apart . Last week, the good people of Oyo town, distinguished Yoruba sons and daughters as well as numerous Nigerian well-wishers, rose as one to pay homage to one of Nigeria’s most illustrious monarchs ever.

    The Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi, had turned eighty. Looking every inch as regal, as resplendent and as royally distinguished as ever, Oba Adeyemi is in a class of his own among monarchs. It was carnival time in the land of Sekere and Dundun music.

    The event was a moveable royal feast worthy of the epic munificence with which ancient Oyo monarchs entertained their honoured guests in olden times. It was also a classic enactment of the Yoruba abiding fealty to their traditional institution, no matter the advent of ambiguous and traumatic modernity. As royalties collided with royalties and spiritual fathers jostled with secular notables to honour the great monarch, you had a sense that this was the Yoruba nation at its chivalrous and cohesive best.

    Snooper should have been there. A personally signed and royally embossed invitation card had arrived a week before the commencement of the week-long fiesta. But the pressure of work and a mix-up about Alaafin’s itinerary from palace sources sent yours sincerely on a wild goose chase a day before the concluding book launch at the International Conference Centre in Ibadan.

    Given the obvious distress and disorientation of the post-colonial state in Nigeria and the rest of Africa, irony and counter-factual fantasies pervaded the entire ceremony. What would have happened had the old Oyo Empire survived its tribulations in the hands of local jihadists who up-ended the empire and the colonial invaders who finally smashed up its institutional architecture? You get the sense that while the celebrations were going on, the redoubtable Yoruba intelligentsia was also thinking its way through what has become a classic colonial cul de sac.

    At the ripe age of eighty, the Alaafin has already passed into legend in his life time. How do you begin to write about a living institution? If there is any lesson to be taken away from the life of this exceptional monarch, it is that grit, determination and rigorous royal husbandry pay spectacular dividends.

    No other Oba could have come better prepared for the throne. The unmistakable branding and occult assignations of future royalty having been positively identified by his late father, Alaafin Adeniran Adeyemi, the young prince at a tender age was farmed out to live with other royalties in order to imbibe the arcane rituals of royalty and its cloak and dagger politics. The death of his beloved mother at an early age and the need to insulate the future Oba from domestic hostilities would also have weighed heavily on the mind of his wise father.

    The finished product is a perfect embodiment of learning, culture, wit and royal scholarship. The Alaafin is a living treasure of Yoruba history, his memory and power of instant recall a tad short of the miraculous. To add to an already formidable survival kit in the merciless ring of royal and anti-royal politics, the future Alaafin took on martial art and boxing, a trade he plies till date in the privacy of his palace.

    Even the great monarchies of ancient Europe would have secretly applauded this well-rounded education of a future African king. Like his ancestors who went to bed with their daggers fastened around the waist even as the sheath served as pillow case, the Alaafin is not the one to shy away from battle.

    Due to the violence-suffused and blood-soaked nature of their recent history as people of multi-national empire, the Yoruba are often reluctant to start a fight. They have seen too many desperate and bloody scrapes in the last three hundred years of their history. But woe betides anybody who mistakes their civility for cowardice or their restraint and happy go lucky nature as tantamount to a lack of appetite and aptitude for fatal confrontation.

    Perhaps it needs restating that the Oyo Empire was a child of providential necessity. Despite the protracted bloodshed on the Ife plains that accompanied the Oduduwa ascendancy, the subsequent revolution of centralized authority and decentralized governance in Yorubaland was achieved through a combination of persuasion and diplomatic negotiation rather than outright conquest.

    It was when Oduduwa’s people arrived at the northern most fringes of the Yoruba nation and found themselves immediately surrounded by hostile and implacable non-Yoruba people that they were forced to hone their martial instincts. So successful was this militarization of the psyche and martial mobilization that it led to offensive pre-emption and the founding of a new empire.

    Given the signal failure of the post-colonial state in Nigeria to deliver this kind of protection to its captive-subjects and the poverty of education of its political elite, it is not surprising that there is a soaring nostalgia among many Yoruba people and other denizens of old kingdoms in pre-colonial Nigeria for a revalidation of traditional rule as a therapeutic succour for the deep psychic wounds and political destabilization inflicted on Africans by colonial rule and its post-colonial incubus.

    In a gushing tribute to his newly enthroned monarch, the Obaro of Kabba, Oba Solomon Dele Awoniyi, in this paper this past Saturday, Segun Ayobolu spoke highly of the visionary drive, the administrative and managerial capacity of the new Oba. The column concluded by endorsing Basil Davidson’ famous but controversial thesis that at the end of the colonial era power ought to have been “returned to acknowledged African chiefs and kings” who “were often persons of genuine authority and expertise who drew their status and prestige from a long, pre-colonial history….”

    This is a historical impossibility, a heroic but romantic view of history akin to trying to step into the same river twice. Given its immanent logic, and whatever its ideological constructs about “dual mandate” and “civilizing mission”, western civilization was hardly a benign and benevolent intervention in Africa. It was primarily a mission of economic predation and only secondarily of political redemption. The global order does not wait for anyone to get their act together.

    In order to facilitate its project of imposing a new order on a “lost” continent by engendering a total disruption and destruction of its old traditional structure, it was a historic necessity for colonialism to create a new class of African elites to man the foreign system so created by imperialist fiat. Any traditional ruler is welcome as long as they buy into the new project of western modernity. And they will have to slug it out with new entrants into political reckoning with fresh energy and drive to spare.

    As a living symbol of his people’s past grandeur and glory, the Alaafin has been able to straddle the perilous gorge between modernity and tradition with wisdom, wit, self-effacing panache, an acute presence of mind and exemplary political pragmatism. It is a tough act to follow, like the dazzling gyrations of a master trapeze artist on the high wire. Forty seven years after mounting the throne of his ancestors, Oba Adeyemi remains firmly in the political and royal saddle. His doting and admiring father would be applauding from the imperial ceiling.

    Like a terrible yoke, history must weigh heavily on this enlightened traditional ruler, and it has not always been a happy history. The burden of remembrance is often accompanied by the pains of recollection. It could not have escaped the Alaafin how a new Islamic order from the desert fringes of the country and without any valid claim to superior civilization beyond religious fanaticism and cavalry mobility toppled an internally weakened and bitterly polarized Oyo Empire.

    According to knowledgeable sources, the reigning Alaafin, already wounded in battle, was captured by the marauders and taken to the house of a rogue Yoruba warlord in Ilorin where he was grotesquely tortured into renouncing his traditional faith before being given the Khashoggi treatment by his savage interlocutors. It was a horrific execution. The warlord in question suffered a similar fate in a power tussle shortly thereafter.

    A century and three decades after this momentous event which sent the empire on a tail-spin, it was the turn of the reigning Alaafin Adeniran Adeyemi, the father of the current occupant of the throne, to taste the bitter pill of the clash between traditional authority and colonial legitimacy predicated on imperialist disruption of the old order.

    To give teeth to the new order, the Macpherson Constitution vested direct political power in the new power elite,  an arrangement which suddenly saw the Alaafin subordinated to the Chairmanship of late Bode Thomas in the Oyo Divisional Council. A bitter confrontation soon ensued with Bode Thomas accusing the Alaafin of rank insubordination for not standing up to greet him.

    It was a proxy confrontation between the AG and the NCNC. But for its frank political undertones and partisan furies, the misunderstanding could have been easily resolved. After the mysterious death of the Action Group stalwart events moved to a cataclysmic climax. Following the finding of the Floyd Commission of Enquiry, Oba Adeniran was deposed and banished into exile in 1955 and he died five years after in 1960.

    A decade later and at the turn of the seventies, the same Yoruba disunity and elite power rivalry almost cost the Alaafin the ascension to the throne of his forefathers. The smell of intrigues was overpowering. Even after the then Prince Adeyemi’s nomination was ratified and given the seal of approval by the Western Nigeria government the murmurs of disapprobation persisted.

    Read also: Alaafin Lamidi Adeyemi glides to 80

    It led to the brief closure of The Nigerian Tribune on the order of the military government of the then Brigadier Adebayo. To register its displeasure, the newspaper was about to publish a fiery editorial titled “We shall be back to Square One” when security men pounced on the premises. Yours sincerely fled through Oke Sapati, Minor Seminary before descending on Oke Padre in the early hours of the morning.

    In all this, and despite the presence of enemy forces, the Yoruba have remained their own worst enemies. Atavistic feuding stretching back to seven generations, elite rancour, petty malice and collision of bloated egos remain the order of the day. In a post-colonial coliseum of permanent hostilities, you cannot blame your adversaries for exploiting your weakness.

    In the jungle of hostilities and injustice that is post-colonial Nigeria, every ethnic group leverages on its strengths and advantages as countervailing strategies of survival and self-preservation: while the north directs its political and military aggression against the nation and the east replies in kind with economic aggression, the west responds with an intellectual aggression which leaves nothing standing in the wake of its relentless bombardment.

    It is a recipe for perpetual chaos and the nation as post-colonial hell. And it could go on forever or for the foreseeable future until there is a nationalist political class with the vision and will to make Nigeria a safe and humane habitat for all its citizens.

    This is where a man of Alaafin’s immense stature, royal prestige, political pragmatism and universal appeal could make the difference. At eighty, the great Yoruba monarch has earned his spurs and epaulettes. All the accolades and encomiums have been richly deserved.

    As a concluding project to a reign of glorious distinction, Alaafin should now devote his grandeur and remarkable intellectual energy to finding an answer to the Yoruba Question within the Nigerian Conundrum. Here is wishing Iku baba Yeye many more years on the throne of his illustrious ancestors.

  • Royalty: Court awards N5.4b against Multichoice

    Royalty: Court awards N5.4b against Multichoice

    Justice Mohammed Idris of the Federal High Court in Lagos has awarded N5.4billion against Multichoice Nigeria Limited for alleged copyright infringement.

    The judgment came after eight years of copyright legal tussle between Multichoice and the Musical Copyright Society of Nigeria (MCSN) Ltd./GTE.

    Multichoice had sued MCSN in 2011, claiming some damages, but MCSN counter-claimed.

    Justice Idris, in the verdict delivered last Friday, struck out Multichoice’s suit and ordered it to pay MCSN the money.

    He held: “The court having delivered judgment this 19th day of January, 2018, striking out the plaintiff’s claims, it is hereby ordered as follows: that judgment is entered in favour of the defendant/counter-claimant in the following terms: N5,490,652,125.00 only as damages.”

    The amount includes N200million and N309million awarded to MCSN as general and aggravated damages against Multichoice, and N197million as Value Added Tax (VAT) payable to the Federal Government.

    MCSN, in its counter-claim, accused Multichoice of infringing on its copyright by using 18 songs without permission, including ‘Konko Below’ and ‘Never Far Away’ by Bisade Ologunde, alias Lagbaja; “ No Ordinary Love”, “Love Is Stronger Than Pride”, and “Is it A crime”  composed and authored by Shade  Adu and  Mathewman  Stuart Collin; “Three Little Birds”, “One love” and “Turn Your Lights down Low” by  Robert Nesta Marley, aka  Bob Marley  among others.

    MCSN argued in its counter-claim: “The defendant to the counter-claim did each of these acts in the course of and to promote their businesses and to make profit without the authority or license of the counter-claimant and the counter-claimant has suffered loss and damage.”

    Multichoice, in a  statement, last night said it has filed an appeal as well as a stay of execution against the ruling of the Federal Court.

    “MultiChoice has filed an appeal as well as a stay of execution against the Federal Court’s judgement. However as the case remains Sub Judice, we are prevented from providing further details at this point.”

     

  • ‘Establish uniform royalty, single fiscal regime in mining sector’

    ‘Establish uniform royalty, single fiscal regime in mining sector’

    Solid Minerals, Nigerian Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (NEITI) Assistant Director, Dieter Bassi, has called for a uniform royalty to be paid by mining companies operating in an area, and single fiscal regime for the sector.

    He said such uniformity would create the enabling environment for foreign and local investors in the sector. “There is the issue of multiple taxations based on the constitution as some states and agencies collect royalty on some minerals that are on the exclusive list.”

    Bassi, who spoke with The Nation at a forum in Lagos, said the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development was supposed to collect royalties, but that, in some states, the local government areas and certain agencies of government collect  royalties in one form or the other.

    He also said changing royalty’s  name into what he described as production tax or development levy would not encourage investment in the sector.

    President, Miners Association of Nigeria (MAN), Musa Shehu, also called on the Federal Ministry of Mines to give adequate protection to miners, who have paid their taxes, noting that licensed companies had been prevented from mining even when they had brought in foreign investors to site. He added that this development, among other factors, encouraged illegal mining.

    He, however, advocated a synergy between the Ministry of the Environment and its state counterparts.

    Also, Director, Planning, Research & Statistics, Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, Pade Davies, supported the approval for setting up the National Council of Mines and Mineral Resources by the Federal Executive Council (FEC). This, he noted, would create a forum for states and local government councils to come together and address issues relating to multiple taxation, community agreements and how to resolve them.

    Meanwhile, an expert in the mining sector and pioneer lecturer in the Department of Geology and Mining, Nasarawa State University, Keffi, K’tsoNghargbu, has stressed the need to involve Sociologists and Psychologists in the public relations departments of mining companies in the country.

    This, he said, would reduce the hostilities companies and individuals that have mining titles suffer in accessing their sites in the country. He said their services would help to sensitise host communities on happenings around them as well as inform them on what they stand to benefit from the mining operations around them in the short and long terms.

    Such experts, he suggested, needed to be drafted into the communities and make them to settle to work before the arrival of equipment and personnel into such communities, insisting that it will help to eliminate resentment and misgivings.

    Nghargbu agreed that there were issues hindering the success of mining operations in the country, but  advised mining firms to have community relations units and first deploy their members of staff in such units in communities before moving in their equipment.

    Mining companies, he said, should not end up with geologists and engineers, adding that they needed sociologists as well as psychologists. If that is done, nobody should protest for want of knowledge of what is happening around him or her and would not attack the company in the area.

  • Queen Vanessa Mdee collaborates with Nigerian Royalty

    Fresh off of her acting debut on MTV SHUGA, East Africa’s leading female artist Vanessa Mdee releases her brand new single, Kisela.

    The single which features P (Peter Okoye) of PSquare tells a story of a heartbroken woman who discovers what she thought was a relationship is actually a mere hook up.

    The song was produced by EKelly and the video was directed by Clarence Peters.

    Vanessa was heard stating that Peter Okoye is the definition of a music icon and this dream come true not only gave her an added lesson in music and entertainment but also a class in humility and professionalism.

  • Anioma cultural festival glitters with royalty

    Anioma cultural festival glitters with royalty

    Our past includes valuable culture that other people would appreciate if we preserve and promote it.

    Over 30 traditional rulers were among the huge gathering of Anioma people that were thrilled at this year’s Anioma Cultural Festival, the 14th edition, held on Easter Monday, April 17, 2017, at the Anglican Girls Grammar School, Asaba.

    Organised by the Organisation for the Advancement of Anioma Culture (OFAAC), the culture umbrella body of Anioma people, this year’s fiesta lived up to its billing as the biggest festival in Delta State. From as early as 8.00am the venue reverberated with singing, drumming, dancing and cheering with about 117 musical, dance and drama troupes from all over the nine local government areas that make up Delta North Senatorial District otherwise known as Anioma nation.

    This year’s fiesta, with the theme: Let’s Celebrate Our Culture, was not only a carnival, as has been the tradition; it was also a championship for the active promotion of Anioma culture. The performances of the competing troupes were adjudged under seven categories and each group winner, runner up and second runner-up went home with mouthwatering prizes. OFAAC also awards big money prizes for three overall best performers from the various categories. This year, the heavyweight performers did not disappoint. Defending champions, Ayolo Troupe, an eclectic, mixed, youth dance troupe from Igbuzo retained the best overall performing group. Otu Chukwu Anyi Ri Mma, the well-costumed, energetic women’s dance ensemble, from Agbor-Obi were first runners-up while Onu Anioma, the war dance group from Owa Alero bagged the prize for the third overall best performers.

    There were also non-competing groups, such as the Otu Odu Enyi of Asaba led by Barr. Giwa Amu. The large number of performers included community and school-based troupes, church-affiliated bands, as well as amateur and semi-professional collectives. There were as well traditional wrestling and exhibition of arts and crafts of Anioma people.

    Speaking in his welcome address at the fiesta, president of OFAAC, Arc. Kester Ifeadi, showered praises on Delta State Government for its cooperation and support to the efforts of his organisation, “to promote and protect the rich culture of the Anioma people.” OFAAC has supported its cultural promotion activities with community development initiatives. Giving further kudos to the state governor, Dr. Ifeanyi  Okowa who Ifeadi described as a long-time supporter of OFAAC and who was unavoidably absent due to an engagement outside the state, Ifeadi informed the gathering that “Only recently, we took delivery of two tractors which were given to us by the Delta State Government to boost agrarian efforts of our people.”

    To the royal fathers who came in large numbers, the OFAAC president stated that if not for their encouragement and support, the efforts of OFAAC would have been in vain. He thanked them immensely for their fatherly support and solicited continued cooperation.

    In his remarks at the occasion, the governor, who was represented by his chief of staff, Hon. Tam Brisbie, stated that, “We cannot have a future without a past. Our past includes valuable culture that other people would appreciate if we preserve and promote it. “We have a rich cultural history in Delta State that can bring people from other states and even abroad to Delta State.”

    He therefore urged OFAAC “not to relent in their promotion of our rich cultural heritage.”

    The long list of royal fathers whose presence and regalia added majesty to the fiesta included  Obi Obuenwe Ekpechi Ulu, the Ezemu of Emu Kingdom; Obi Vincent Nmor, the Obi of Ugiliamai; Obi Kikachukwu, the Obi Of Ubulu-Unor; Obi Samuel Otiegede III, the Obi Of Idumu-Ogo; Obi Martha Dunkwu, the Omu Of Anioma; Obi Emmanuel Offor, the Obi Of Adonte; Obi Theresa .U. Mgbo, the Omu Of Onicha –Uku; Obi Ayo Isinyemeze I, the Obi of Ugbodu; Obi Nezteh Marvin, the Obi of Akuku-Uno; Obi Onwelikwu Ogboli, the Obi of Ejeme-Aniogor.

    More of the monarchs whose royal presence spiced up the fiesta included the youngest monarch of Oligbo kingdom, Obi Nduka Ezeagauna II JP, the Obi of Issele-Uku; Obi Godwin Onyenweuwa, the Obi of Ewulu; Obi Sunday Olisenekwu, the Obi of Ogodor; Obi Emmanuel Offor, the Obi of Adonte. Also on the list of royalty were, Obi Mohanyem I, the Obi of Ezi; Obi Charlse Anyasi, Obi of Idumuju-Unor, Akor Engr. Osita Onwuka, the Akorr of Oko; Obi Victor Chukwumaleze, the Obi of Onicha-Ugbo among others.

    Other special guests and prominent sons of the state who were present at the festival were, Delta State commissioner for information, culture and tourism, Mr. Patrick Ukah; Engr. G.N. Konwea JP, who represented Obi Prof. Chike Edozien, the Asagba of Asaba; a strong delegation of Onu Ika led by Dan Osifo, Chief Dan Okenyi, among several dignitaries from both the public and private sectors.

    Through the years, Anioma Cultural Festival has attracted the attention and support of key national brands and products. This year, Zenith Bank, Union Bank, Seaman’s Schnapps, Cakasa Nigeria, and NorthWest Petroleum keyed in as event sponsors.

     

  • Jamaican queen Chanel Chin savours elevation to royalty

    Jamaican queen Chanel Chin savours elevation to royalty

    Life is a basket of surprises. As the wheels of fate spin forth and back, a mighty man somewhere is toppled from his high pedestal and left to bite the dust, while a commoner in another place is elevated beyond her wildest dreams into the rarefied air of royalty.

    A few years ago, Jamaican beauty, Chanel Chin, nursed modest hopes of accomplishment in her chosen field, but fate had other ideas. While in Canada, she met with then Prince Adewale Akanbi. The two hit it off before long, and when her Prince Charming ascended the throne of the Iwo Kingdom as the Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Adewale Abdul-Rasheed Akanbi, the black beauty became his queen.

    Chanel, daughter of reggae artiste Ludlow Chin a.k.a. Bobo Zaro, has not let her descent prove a stumbling block to her reign. She has immersed herself in the life of her subjects, acquainting herself with their language and culture.

    The gist in town, however, is that the leggy queen is now spotting a baby bump. This is good news for her husband and inhabitants of Iwo Kingdom who are set to witness the birth of an heir.

  • A decade of royalty and faith

    A decade of royalty and faith

    Preamble

    To some people, the number of years spent on earth matters much more than anything else. To some others, life is not much about longevity as it is about quality. Believers in the earlier concept ensure the yearly celebration of their birthdays even if there is no success accorded to it.

    On the other hand, those who think more of qualitative and meaningful life often see celebration of birthdays as a mere social anathema signifying an unnecessary aristocracy of birth against the necessary aristocracy of intellect which they perceive as the propeller of human growth and development. Mostly, women belong to the earlier concept.

    It was against the background of this analysis that Nigeria’s first President, the late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe wrote in the introduction to his autobiography entitled ‘My Odyssey’ thus: “Man comes into the world and while he lives, he embarks upon a series of activities absorbing experience which enables him to formulate a philosophy of life and to chart his causes of actions. But then, he dies. Nevertheless, his biography remains a guide to those of the living who may need guidance either as a warning on the vanity of human wishes or as encouragement or both”. Human life is a pilgrimage from the unknown to the unknown. No one knows whence he emanated or whither he is bound. The greatest philosophy of life should be to live for the benefit of others as much as one lives for the benefit of self. And that is what philosophers call a footprint on the sands of time.

    This article would have been published in this column last Friday. But yours sincerely was not available either in the country or at any settled place to be able to put pen to paper and add a voice to those of the pros or cons. However, since an occasion like this is a platform for history to which contribution can be made promptly or deferred, it can never be too late for ‘The Message’ to be a contributor to this golden honour hence this humble addition.

    Not his birthday   

    A few days ago, precisely on August 24, 2016, Nigerian media were fully awash with greetings and congratulatory messages to His Eminence, Dr. Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, CFR, mni, the Sultan of Sokoto and President-General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA). The day was supposed to coincide with his 60th birthday. But unknown to most people who tried to help him celebrate the occasion, His Eminence would rather celebrate achievement than mere birth date. That is the school of thought to which he belongs. Though, he is of royal blood, his assumption of the exalted royal throne of the Sokoto Caliphate ten years ago (2006) at the age of 50 was not due to his birth per se but to the evident achievements of his intellectual being as an intellectual entity. And the impact of his fatherly royalty as well as his competent leadership of Nigerian Muslim Ummah in the past one decade has been unprecedentedly historic. This Sultan does not celebrate birthdays because he does not believe in the aristocracy of birth but that that of intellect. However, he does not deprive those who want to celebrate it for him of their right to do so.

    Point of reference

    When His Eminence was seven years on the throne in 2013, yours sincerely wrote an article about his leadership style in this column which remains as current today as it was then. Thus, the article is repeated here for the records. Please, read on:

    “In every crowd of horizontal men, there is always one vertical man who deserves honour not much because of his vertical position but because of the significant difference which that position makes to the crowd. History and man are like Siamese twins or a pair of scissors. The one cannot do without the other. History makes man just as man makes history. And their symbiotic relationship ensures that reciprocal baton of substance continues to change hands between them for as long as they remain in existence”.

    “Ten years ago, in Nigeria, an innocent human crescent lay hidden in the firmament of the orbit waiting to be sighted before prompting Nigerian Muslim Ummah into a united folk. That crescent is the towering personality generally known today as the SULTAN. The gentleman’s name did not ring any bell in Nigeria before he was named and crowned ‘THE SULTAN OF SOKOTO’ in November 2006.

    Thus, the emergence of Brigadier General Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar (rtd.) as the successor to the exalted throne of the great Sokoto Empire without any controversy came as a surprise to many Nigerians. At 50 years of age then, many people thought that he was one of the youngest men to become the Sultan in many decades. But he disagreed with such a suggestion as he recalled that his own father, Sultan Abubakar Sadiq III who was demised in 1988 ascended the throne at the age of 37.

    With a sound military background and a diplomatic pedigree facilitated by modern travelling exposure, since coming into office, this Sultan has consistently demonstrated a rare royal leadership depicting him as a millennial royal Captain divinely designated to pilot the affairs of Islam and the Muslim Ummah in Nigeria with great success. Some random peripheral but irrelevant noises about him and his office by certain relevance seekers do not make any difference in this case. After all, a trillion dogs may line up on a railway to bark at a surging train and that can never halt its surge.

    Philosophers’ assertion

    Philosophers who assert that every new century has a way of producing a great leader may be right after all. The example of Sultan Abubakar is a manifest attestation to that assertion. Ever since he assumed the exalted royal office about a decade ago, this gentleman has convincingly exemplified all the qualities of genuine leadership. Every statement he has made socially, religiously or politically and every action he has taken officially or privately has proved to be a school from which all well-meaning people have learnt one lesson or another.

    As Chancellor

    Five years after his assumption of office, the symbiotic relationship of history and man was reconfirmed in Zaria, on Wednesday, (November 23, 2011), where a galaxy of well-meaning men and women from all walks of life assembled to say “we are here to bear witness”. That was the day His Eminence was installed as the CHANCELLOR OF AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA. The occasion was just one of many laurels accruing to him since he assumed office as Sultan. Before then, he had been the Chancellor of the University of Benin. But none of these matters to him as much as his service to humanity. Besides building a very solid bridge across Nigeria in all strata, this Sultan has significantly reduced the once dominant tribal tendencies to the barest minimum.

    Definition of leadership

    A onetime American President, Harry S. Truman (1884-1972), once described a leader as “a man who has the ability to get other people to do what they don’t want to do and like it”. By his activities and functions so far, Sultan  Abubakar has proved Truman right by demonstrating to Nigerian Muslim Ummah that the time has come for the reformation not only of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) but also the Sultanate.

    When he assumed office in 2006, he hinted that the Sultanate would be put on the internet to enable all educated Muslims have access to their leader.  And in this age of computer, can anyone meaningfully lay claim to any serious knowledge without adequate access to the internet? That is why he decided to start the reformation of the Sultanate through the instrumentality of the internet. And as an exemplary leader, he demonstrates his leadership prowess by possessing mastering fingers on the computer.

    Islam’s first law

    In Islam, education is the first law. It is only through it that man can understand life in all its ramifications. That was why Allah’s very first revelation to Prophet Muhammad (SAW) ordained education thus: “Read in the name of Allah who created; He created man from clots of congealed blood; Read! Your Lord is the Most Bountiful One, Who taught man by the pen; He taught man what he did not know…”Q. 96:1-4. To further emphasize the compelling need for education in Islam, Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was reported to have said in one Hadith that “knowledge is a lost treasure. Muslims should look for it and pick it wherever they could find it”.

    Without education there can be no information. And without information there can be no progress. That is why the Sultan started his reformation of the Sultanate from the premise of education. It is only with education that most problems in this world can be solved without much ado. Sultan Abubakar also believes that education without social harmony is like a virtue without value and that there can be no harmony in a society where people are overwhelmed by ignorance and penury as is the case in Nigeria. Thus, he has consistently focused on both. Perhaps that was why he initiated many educational programmes including the scholarships for female Muslim medical students in the South-West Nigeria being managed by the Muslim Ummah of that region (MUSWEN).

    At his installation as the Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University five years ago, Sultan  Abubakar told the crowd that the current socio-economic indices in Nigeria were a clear indication that the country had begun to drift. He lamented the nation’s unprecedented underdevelopment despite the enormous resources with which Nigeria was endowed. Today, the situation that warranted his lamentation has become more manifest.

    About corruption

    In His Eminence’s words: “Corruption has emasculated our progress even as poverty and unemployment have pushed Nigerian citizens to the brinks, fuelling and confounding social conflicts even as inter-communal crises have extracted heavy toll in both human lives and property”. He went further to say that: “Persistent insecurity has generated panic and anxiety; our social and physical infrastructures are far from meeting the needs of the nation; the country appears to be adrift and at the core of all these is moral decay engendered by ignorance and greed.”

    Tertiary education

    At the same occasion, His Eminence also noted that “the reform of the tertiary education sector could not be effective without putting in place, the progressive developments required in the basic and senior secondary education sectors. He insisted that “our state governments, especially those of the North, must begin to realize the enormity of the challenges facing the education sector and take urgent and necessary steps to address these challenges.” He lauded the founding fathers of ABU, especially, the late Sardauna of Sokoto, Sir Ahmadu Bello, and urged the authorities of the ABU to continue to abide by the cardinal principles on which the institution was founded.

    That is the renascent Sultan for you, a man who is at the topmost echelon of the tree of comfort but feels so much concerned about the plight of the peasants who are deliberately consigned to the weeding of the shrubs without any hope in the official policies. He has never relented in his advocacy for good governance and denunciation of corruption and religious intolerance.

    As a guest of CAN

    When he was invited in January 2010 as a Special Guest of Honour to a religious seminar organized by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) with the theme: ‘Knowing Your Muslim Neighbour’, Sultan Abubakar delivered an historic speech that reverberated meaningfully across the entire world. And in May, same year, he also invited the leadership of CAN to a special conference of the NSCIA held in Kaduna. The theme of that conference was: ‘Islam in the Eyes of the Christians’. He is the first Nigerian first class Monarch ever to engage in such an interfaith affair at the national level and his speech on that occasion was also electrifying. Please read an excerpt from that speech as presented below:

    “….we initiated, as we had done for the JNI, a thorough review of the activities of the NSCIA and an extensive reform of its structures. It is our firm belief that these reforms are not only desirable but necessary, to reposition the Council to play its strategic role as the apex Islamic body in the country and to respond, effectively and meaningfully, to the challenges facing the Muslim Ummah in a multi-cultural and multi-religious society.

    NSCIA’s reform agenda

    We have had extensive consultations over the last one year and have received very useful inputs on the reform agenda from all the constituent bodies of the Council. Our strategic objectives in this exercise had been and shall remain: firstly, the promotion of Muslim Unity and Solidarity, to accord the Ummah the ability to speak with one voice and to act and work together for the advancement of Islam.

    Secondly, the development of Education and Economic Enterprise, to enable the Muslim Ummah play an active role in the socio-economic life of Nigeria is a sine qua non.

    Thirdly, the promotion of peace and religious harmony both within the Muslim Communities and between the adherents of Islam and those of Christianity is a joint effort that cannot be handled with levity.

    Fourthly, the establishment of effective linkage with Government, at local, state and federal levels, to safeguard the interest of the Ummah and to build consensus on those vital issues that bind us together as a nation must be pursued and sustained.

    It is therefore our hope that as we bring this reform process to its logical conclusion, we will receive the support and patronage of the entire Muslim Ummah as well as the co-operation of all stakeholders including State Governments and indeed the Government of the Federation”.

    The task of governing

    “On that occasion, His Eminence laid emphasis on “the task of overcoming Nigeria’s problems and he called for sacrifice, dialogue and understanding. He said all national stakeholders must overcome the myopia of greed and self-centeredness to move this great nation forward and safeguard its strategic interests….we must begin to look into the future with hope and confidence and to ensure, first and foremost, that we shore up the foundations of our political system. The National Assembly, and indeed all tiers of Government, should not relent in their current efforts at Electoral Reform and in ensuring that Nigerians have a genuine electoral process that guarantees free and fair elections. Unless and until we do that, our nation will continue to be haunted by the unholy alliance between fraudulent elections and illegitimate electoral outcomes, the consequences of which we all know too well. We must break away from this vicious circle and confer on Nigerians the power and indeed the ability to decide, freely and willingly, who leads them at all levels of governance”.

    Conception of leadership

    Talking about leadership, His Eminence said “there is also the urgent need for us to re-evaluate our conception of leadership as a nation…. needless to add, that there is no way we can make genuine progress as a nation when a significant number of our populace wallows in abject poverty unable to secure the requisite means for their sustenance and to cater for the health and educational needs of their families. Democracy must build a humane society capable of looking after legitimate needs of its citizenry. For it to be truly successful, it must be able to bring real progress to all sectors of our diverse society. He concluded that “finally we must all work hard to limit the influence of wealth in our society and to support those values that promote social responsibility, excellence and hard work”.

    That is Sultan Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, a leader who knows the problems of his followers and associates with them in solving those problems. Through his humble interaction with all Muslims in Nigeria irrespective of tribal or geographical boundaries, he has become the first Sultan to create a strong feeling of a united Muslim Ummah under a competent and considerate leadership. And by speaking out incessantly against policies which seem to deliberately impoverish ordinary Nigerians across board, this Sultan has brought a rare hope to Nigeria and the Muslims are the luckiest for it. Such a leadership deserves allegiance, loyalty and regular prayer from the Ummah and not just celebration of birthday and congratulatory messages to mark the occasion.

    We pray for the elongation of his life with very sound physical health, exemplary wisdom and Allah’s constant guidance. Amin