Group salutes Ganduje’s ‘courage’ to create new emirates

Delegates of the Northern Coalition for Democracy and Progress (NADP) held an emergency meeting in Abuja to deliberate on pressing issues facing the north.

Delegates from the 18 out of the 19 northern states were in attendance while the coordinator in Plateau state was said to have sent his apologies for missing the event.

In a communique issued at the end of the meeting, the group called on the federal government to set up a special security squad drawn from all security agencies to parade all the states where killings and kidnapping have been persistent including Zamfara, Kaduna and Benue states.

On the installation of four new emirs in Kano state, the group commended Abdulahi Ganduje, governor of the state, for the “courage to lead the reform that will bring development closer to the people”.

The governor recently installed four new first-class emirs in Bichi, Rano, Karaye and Gaya following a new law passed by the state house of assembly.

The coalition traced the history of the class struggle between the talakawas and the aristocrats through the 1950 Sawaba Declaration and described the development in Kano State as a path towards ending the oppression of the talakawas by the privileged aristocracy.

The group observed that the new restructuring and decentralization policy will foster social cohesion and prevent unnecessary conflict in the state.

The group called on all progressive elements in the northern region to unite in solidarity with what delegates described as a pro-people policy and alleged that there were moves to fan embers of conflict and stoke needless fires that can lead to a breakdown of law and order.

Abba Gwarzo, national coordinator of the group, said “unguarded public utterances” from the emir has continued to cast an image of partisanship that has affected the expected neutrality of traditional institutions.

The coalition appealed to the residents of Kano to remain calm and “go about their normal businesses with civility, respect of constituted authority without allowing themselves to be used as tools in the hands of disgruntled political entrepreneurs and unpatriotic elements who are determined to foment trouble”.