The presidency has said that a sitting governor has the power over traditional rulers within its jurisdiction, even to the point of dethronement.
While reacting to the dethronement on Monday of the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi, by the Umar Ganduje led government, Tolu Ogunlusi, Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on New Media, said in his tweeter handle on Tuesday that a sitting governor can dethrone any traditional ruler under his jurisdiction.
He said: “That is the way the system is set up. Governors formally appoint them, present them with staff of office and fund their offices. Governors have veto power over monarchy in their states.”
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While citing an example with Governor Yesom Wike of Rivers State, Ogunlusi said, “You could notice the way Wike paraded Rivers State traditional rulers recently and addressed them like a kindergarten class.”
The president’s aide added that the power the governors had over royal institutions was huge, stressing that it did not start today.
He pointed out that the dethronement of a monarch in the capacity of the Emir of Kano was not new, insisting that the fate of the former governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) was not peculiar to the Northern part of the country.
He added, “British deposed the Obas of Lagos and Benin in 1851 and 1897 respectively. Alake was dethroned temporarily in 1948 by women’s riot. Awo deposed Alaafin in 1959; Olowo was deposed in 1966; Edo Milad (Military Administrator) tried to remove Oba as chairman of state traditional rulers council in 1999 and Deji of Akure was deposed in 2010,” he said.
