President Muhammadu Buhari’s media aide says Governors have the powers to remove any traditional ruler in their territory.
This is coming after the dethronement of the reverred Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi Lamido by the state’s Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje.
Tolu Ogunlesi, Special Assistant to the President on New Media, while reacting to the removal of Sanusi said it is not out of place for a Governor to dethrone a monarch.
The Presidential aide while backing up his claim made reference to a viral video showing the Rivers state Governor, Nyesome Wike, addressing some traditional rulers in the state with ‘disrespect’.
In the viral video referenced by the Presidential aide, the Rivers state Governor addressed the monarchs with a harsh tone as well as warning to dethrone any one of them who fails to do what is right.
”That’s the way the system is set up. Nobody is above being dethroned. Governors formally appoint them, present them staffs of office, fund their offices. Whether this should be so is another matter entirely.
”You people saw how Wike paraded Rivers Traditional Rulers recently and addressed them like a kindergarten class. That’s the power a Governor has over royal institutions. Every Governor. It actually didn’t start today, has been so for a long long time,” he said.
On banishment, he said this “is a different matter entirely. At least one Court has ruled that it does violate the Constitution – in the case between HRH Mustapha Jokolo, (deposed and banished from Gwandu Emirate by the Gov of Kebbi in June 2005) and the Govt of Kebbi.”
