Posted by From AKIN ALOFETEKUN, Minna on
The Turaki of Minna, Brigadier General Habib Baban Mallam (retd), says that the stripping of former President Olusegun Obasanjo of chieftaincy title by the Emir of Zuru, Major General Sani Sami (retd), after he had left office smacked of cowardice.
The Turaki of Minna, Brigadier General Habib Baban Mallam (retd), says that the stripping of former President Olusegun Obasanjo of chieftaincy title by the Emir of Zuru, Major General Sani Sami (retd), after he had left office smacked of cowardice.
Baban Mallam, who was also a former director of Islamic Affairs in the Nigerian Army, said in an exclusive interview with Daily Sun in Minna that the emir's action confirmed the belief in some quarters that he was intimidated into giving Obasanjo the title, which the ex-president did not deserve in the first instance.
The Emir of Zuru had recently derobed Obasanjo, explaining that the decision was taken by the Zuru people to protest the detention of former Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Ishaya Bamaiyi, a Zuru son, for nine years with the former president not lending a helping hand.
But the Turaki of Minna said the emir should have exhibited greater courage by derobing the former leader when he was still in office.
He said: 'But one can understand. He is probably afraid of the turban on his head, because the political elite will stop at nothing in dealing with him.
'Only few of these traditional rulers can do that. Many will be afraid of being removed from the throne.
'You see, in the first instance, Obasanjo did not deserve the title of head of the warriors of Zuru given him. In a town that can boast of a Major-General, how can an outsider come to lead your Army?
'There was practically no proof that Obasanjo did anything for the Zuru people, other than detain their son. I am sure that the emir did not consult with his councilors before his decision to confer the title on the former president and I am also sure, he did not at any time go back to pay homage to the emir as a sign of acceptance.
'Years after taking the title, Obasanjo still did not deem it fit to release Bamaiyi from detention. Derobing Obasanjo, as far as I am concerned, came too late and the fact that it came only after the man had left office, smacks of cowardice and lack of courage."
Baban Mallam, who became a royal father as Turaki of Minna at the age of 19 in 1957, lamented that the traditional institution, especially as it affected award of traditional titles, has been bastardized.
'Only a few of these royal fathers follow the due process of their tradition in conferring titles on people. Many of them confer titles on people who are ready to put honey on their lips," he alleged, adding that giving Obasanjo the title was a serious mistake in the first instance.
'That title is for indigenes of the emirate. Tradition is tradition. It was abused in the case of Obasanjo and to compound it, the title was given to somebody who felt too big to even pay homage to the emir."
The former Army chaplain said he didn't think Obasanjo has lost anything by the retrieval of this title, pointing out it was not properly given. He said that it was a political title which had polluted the traditional institution.
'My regret is why somebody who rose to the position of Major-General, somebody who had seen so much troubles as Commander of the Brigade of Guards during the regime of Gen. Murtala Muhammed, should have allowed himself to be hoodwinked by the political elite.
'But then you know the enormous power the political elite wield. You may not call them cowards, maybe they are simply bending to the wrong side. That is how I look at it, many of them are afraid that the turbans may be removed from their heads."