National president, Arewa United Consultative Forum, Alhaji Shuaib Ado Dansudu has appealed to the Lagos state government and well meaning Nigerians to sanction Yerima Shettima for allegedly claiming to be the national president of Arewa Youth Consultative Forum.
“It is a fraud. And we all know that Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) does not have a youth wing,” he said.
Dansudu also pleaded with the Lagos state government to, as a matter of urgency, caution those trying to create a group by the name ‘Council of Hausa Chiefs,’ trying to create confusion and disharmony by claiming the position of Sarkin Hausa of Lagos after the death of Alhaji Sani Kabir, the Sarkin Hausawa of Lagos.
He said, “What we have always known in Lagos is the Lagos State Council of Arewa Chiefs, which has absolute majority traversing the length and breadth of Lagos State.”
Shettima and the so-called Council of Hausa Chiefs in Lagos had raised an alarm that the state Commissioner for Waterfront Infrastructure Development, Arc Ahmed Kabir 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 division within the Hausa community in Lagos predates the current administration in the state and described the claim by Shettima and the council of chiefs as totally false.
According to him, “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 Sarki, Kabiru Garuba and the late Sarki Yaro Dogara, who both lay 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 Hausawa of Lagos, Alhaji Sani Kabiru is not entitled to occupy the position now after his death. Moreover, the issue at hand is purely an affair of Hausa community; it is not a Fulani affair neither is it an Itsekiri or Ijaw affair,” Dansudu explained.
“So, what is the concern of Sarkin Fulani Bambado in this matter? What is an Itshekiri Yerima Shettima, or a Nupe man Kudu Abubakar looking for in this issue? None of them is a member of the Lagos State Council of Arewa Chiefs.
“The Lagos State Council of Arewa Chiefs conducted an exercise of selecting their leader and Alhaji Ali Kabiru was endorsed unanimously by all the members of the Lagos State Council of Arewa Chiefs and he was turbaned as the new Sarkin Hausawa of Lagos.
“The commissioner was in attendance when the three Sarkis 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 the last electioneering in the state, the current state governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu and his deputy, Femi Hamzat were turbanned as Tafidan Hausawa Lagos and Turakin Hausawa of Lagos, respectively in the house of the late Sarkin Hausawa, Alhaji Sani Kabiru in the full glare of the world. So, it is totally wrong to say he was never Sarkin Hausawa of Lagos.”
