Insecurity: Ooni Charges Govt On Constitutional Roles For Traditional Rulers

 

Yusuf Oketola

THE Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, has charged the National Assembly to carry out legislation that will provide constitutional roles for National Council of Traditional Rulers of Nigeria (NCTRN), to enable them make more positive impacts in the security architecture of the country.

Oba Ogunwusi warned that failure to do so may not allow the country to effectively tackle emerging and contemporary security challenges bedeviling the nation.

Ooni who doubles as Co-chairman of NCTRN, the umbrella body of all the traditional rulers in Nigeria, stated this in Kaduna on Monday as Guest Speaker/Royal Father during the 2023 Exercise Haski Hiyu Lecture organised by the Armed Forces Command And Staff College, Jaji, Kaduna state.

The lecture is an annual exercise organised by the military training institution to cross-fertilize ideas and strengthen inter-agency collaboration between civil-military and paramilitary organisations to tackle emerging and contemporary security threats within their domains.

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In the lecture themed: “Combating Internal Security Challenges Through Effective Utilisation Of Traditional Institution” Oba Ogunwusi attributed high rate of crimes and unending security challenges to the failure of government to assign specific constitutional roles to traditional rulers in the country.

The frontline traditional ruler said: “Any nation pushing traditional rulers aside may not prosper. We are the closest to the people and we must be constitutionally empowered to work together with government so as to take our country to another level, especially on security matters.

“We were more relevant during pre-independence struggle and post-independence constitutional democracy up till the end of the First Republic in 1966.

“When the colonial people came, they practiced indirect rule in some parts of this country and they could only rule over the citizens through their traditional rulers. In fact, the first governor of African origin was Ooni Adesoji Aderemi who simultaneously reigned as the King of Ile-Ife and same time governed the old Western Region alongside Late Obafemi Awolowo as the Premier. This was when traditional rulers had constitutional powers.

“Palace is the focal point. Whenever there is a breakdown of law and order in town, people rush to the palace. To you the Nigerian gatekeepers, how do you want to do your jobs successfully without traditional instructions? Impossible!”

Oba Ogunwusi insisted that the traditional institution has a vital role to play in the fight against insurgency, banditry and other related crimes in the society due to their closeness to the people, emphasizing that there is the need to enshrine roles of traditional rulers in the constitution.

In his speech, the Commandant of the Armed Forces Command And Staff College, JAJI Kaduna state, Air Vice Marshal Emmanuel Wunoh thanked the monarch for honouring their invitation and expressed satisfaction with the Ooni’s speech.

Wunoh said he was in total agreement with the request of constitutional roles for Nigerian Traditional Rulers to effectively complement efforts of the security agencies made by the Ife monarch.