The Bauchi Emirate Council has suspended the title of ‘Jakadan Bauchi’ conferred on a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara.
The council said the decision was due to the recent crisis in the local government area of Tafawa Balewa and Bogoro, where Mr Dogara comes from.
Announcing the development at a press conference in Bauchi on Monday, Zungur’s ‘Galadiman Bauchi’ and District Chief Sa’idu Ibrahim said that “the Emirate Council decided to suspend his Jakadan Bauchi title until the court determines the case.
“You may recall that on January 4, 2022, the Emirate expressed its position on the incidents in Bogoro and Tafawa Balewa on December 30 and 31, 2021.
“We condemn the incident and describe it as barbaric and deceitful and call on the government to investigate, uncover the perpetrators and bring them to justice,” Ibrahim said.
“At the recent council meeting we reviewed the case again and expressed our dismay at one of the sons of the area, an actor and our traditional headline who was mentioned as one of those who misled people and perpetrated the incident.
“More surprisingly, he did not sympathize or show any sign of remorse for what happened to their Royal Highnesses, the Emirs of Bauchi and Dass,” the council official said.
Observers see the council’s decision as political. Mr Dogara, a member of the Congress of all progressives (APC), has had a constant battle with the state governor, Bala Mohammed, which led him to return to APC in 2020.
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Residents of Bogoro and Tafawa Balewa had protested against a plan by the state government to co-sponsor the 21st memorial conference for Peter Gonto, a man considered a divine king by the Sayawa ethnic group in Bauchi.
Ahead of the event, youth groups from Tafawa Balewa, believed to be loyal to Dogara, staged a press conference at the Nigerian Journalists Union (NUJ) secretariat in Bauchi to oppose the meeting.
But the state government insisted on holding the meeting which ultimately ended in chaos.
The convoys of Governor Bala Mohammed, Bauchi Emir Rilwanu Adamu and Dass Emir Bilyaminu Othman were attacked by angry residents amid the chaos.
The state government blamed Mr. Dogara for disrupting the event, for which the emirate council sanctioned him.