Senate assures traditional rulers of constitutional role

The Senate yesterday assured traditional rulers of constitutional role in governance which it said would be effected through constitution amendment.

Senate President Godswill Akpabio gave the assurance when royal fathers across the 36 states and the FCT visited him at the Senate. 

He said, “Your request for constitutional role in governance is not strange to us and in particular, to me based on my background.

“My late grandfather was a traditional ruler and in fact, one of the warrant officers used by the colonial masters for effective implementation of the indirect rule.

“During the period, traditional rulers effectively tackled issues of safety and security in their various domains.

“It’s my belief and the entire Senate leadership here that if traditional rulers are constitutionally engaged in governance at the grassroots, the myriad of security challenges facing the country, would be things of the past.”

Speaking on behalf of the traditional rulers, the Etsu Nupe, Dr Yahaya Abubakar, who represented the chairman of the National Council of Traditional Rulers in Nigeria, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar, said the constitutional role of traditional rulers was expunged by the framers of the 1979 constitution.

He said all efforts made by traditional rulers across the country to get back the role had not yielded any result.

“The most recent of such efforts was the one made during the 9th National Assembly which didn’t scale through as a result of failure to get the required votes in the Senate for the demand despite succeeding in the House of Representatives,” he said.

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