An Arewa leader and National President, Arewa United Consultative Forum, Alhaji Shuaib Dansudu, has appealed to the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, and well-meaning Nigerians to caution Alhaji Yerima Shettima over the controversy surrounding the position of Sarkin Hausa in Lagos.
Shettima, National President of the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, had raised an alarm that the state Commissioner for Waterfront Infrastructure Development, Kabiru Ahmed, was plotting to cause disunity within the Hausa community in the state for allegedly endorsing Alhaji Ali Kabiru as the new Sarkin Hausa of Lagos.
But Dansudu said the divisions within the Hausa community in Lagos predated the current administration in the state and described the claims by Shettima and the Council of Hausa Chiefs in Lagos as total falsehood.
He said, “Everybody knows that the Hausa community in Lagos has been long divided as a result of the controversy trailing the stool of Sarkin Hausa of Lagos since the era of the late Sarkin Kabiru Garuba and the late Sarkin Yaro Dogara, who both laid claim to the position.
“Both leaders had their followers then and existed side by side. Therefore, it is wrong for anyone to claim that the house of the late Sarkin Kabiru is not entitled to occupy the position now.
“Moreover, the issue at hand is purely an affair that concerns the Hausa community; it is not a Hausa-Fulani affair and neither is it an Itsekiri or Ijaw affair.”
Dansudu also said it was wrong for anyone to accuse the commissioner of plotting to cause disunity within the Hausa community because of his presence as the representative of the government at the event where Alhaji Ali Kabiru was made the new Sarkin Hausa, Lagos.
“The commissioner was in attendance when the three Sarkins ‘turbaned’ the new Sarkin Hausa, Alhaji Ali Kabiru. As a member of the cabinet in the state, he was a representative of the state government at the event.
“The problem is that those claiming that the late Sarkin Hausawa of Lagos, Alhaji Muhammadu Sanni Kabiru, was not the Sarkin Hausa of Lagos are making a big mistake. If they were good students of history, they would be able to recall, or perhaps they should ask those who know, that during last electioneering in the state, the current state governor and his deputy, Femi Hamzat, were ‘turbaned’ as Tapidan Hausawa Lagos and Turaki Hausawa of Lagos respectively in the house of the late Sarkin Sanni Kabiru, in the full glare of the world. So, it is totally wrong to say he was never Sarkin Hausa of Lagos.
“The division within the community has been there for years. Also no one can deny the fact that the house of Sarkin Yaro Dogara is not entitled to the position but the truth is that the majority carries the votes and it is a well-established fact that Sarkin Kabiru has the majority,” Dansudu added.
The AYCF had accused the state Commissioner for Waterfront Infrastructure Development, Kabiru Ahmed, of making attempts to cause crisis and disunity among the Arewa community in the state.
This was contained in a statement by Shettima on Wednesday, December 30.
The northern group alleged that some elements under the supervision of the Lagos commissioner were working to destabilise the Arewa community in the state.
The statement read in part: “In a modern world governed by strategic communication, it is ridiculous that a Waterfront Commissioner would have the temerity to interfere with a matter strictly concerning the monarchy.”
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