Youths from the seven local government areas that make up the Bauchi Emirate, on Tuesday, stormed the palace of the Emir of Bauchi, Alhaji Rilwanu Adamu, to protest last Friday’s attack on him.
The protesters also demanded that the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, be immediately stripped of his traditional title of Jakadan Bauchi.
It could be recalled that the 21st memorial anniversary and book launch organised in memory of the late leader and crusader of the Sayawa people of the Bogoro and Tafawa Balewa local government areas of the state, Peter Gonto, turned violent on Friday.
Gonto, who was the first Christian convert in Sayawa land, later became an evangelist and leader of his people.
The memorial had caused sharp division among the Sayawa people in the two local government areas, with Dogara kicking against it by citing security concerns capable of breaching the peace in the area.
Dogara, who represents the Dass/Tafawa Balewa/Bogoro Constituency in the House of Representatives, had written to the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba, informing him of security threats if the memorial was allowed to hold.
But despite the warning, the Bauchi State Commissioner of Police, Umar Sanda, gave approval for the events and ordered the deployment of police tactical teams to provide security before, during and after the anniversary and book launch in honour of Dogara wife’s grandfather.
The approval by the police and the organisers’ insistence on going ahead with the events did not go down well with some people in the area, who organised women and youths in the local government areas in protest.
Shortly after the events commenced on Friday at the Government Secondary School, Mwari, in the Bogoro Local Government Area, women and youths besieged the venue and forced them to end abruptly.
They later set the venue ablaze. Ten houses were later confirmed by the police to have been burnt during the crisis.
The convoys of the Emirs of Bauchi, Alhaji Rilwan Adamu, and that of Dass, Alhaji Biliyaminu Oathman, who were on their way to the venue, were attacked and had to return to Bauchi with some vehicles in the convoys damaged.
The windscreen of the vehicle of Oathman was smashed in the process.
Protesting the attack on the emirs on Tuesday, the youth carried placards with different inscriptions such as, ‘Dogara is a disaster’ and ‘No more Dogara in Bauchi’, among others.
The spokesman for the youth, Nurudeen Gwabba, told journalists, “We, the youth of the Bauchi Emirate are calling on the Emir of Bauchi to immediately suspend Yakubu Dogara as the Jakadan Bauchi.
“The call became necessary considering the humiliation meted to the Emirs of Bauchi and Dass by hoodlums from the Bogoro and Tafawa Balewa LGAs last Friday on their way to attend a function they were duly and officially invited to.
“We are proud of the Emir of Bauchi, who is the Chairman of the state Council of Traditional Rulers. What was done to him was a huge humiliation. As a traditional title holder of the emirate, Yakubu Dogara should have averted it.
“Youths of the emirate will not just sit down and fold their arms and watch the ill-treatment of emirs, who are fathers of all, irrespective of ethno-religious inclination. We are, therefore, calling on the Bauchi Emirate to as a matter of urgency suspend Dogara’s traditional title of Jakadan Bauchi.”
While receiving the youth in his palace, the Emir of Bauchi, who represented by the Ajiyan Bauchi, Alhaji Abubakar Ajiya, called for calm and advising them to control their anger and not let it get out of control to lead to reprisals, adding that the Emirate’s position would be made public soon.
Meanwhile, a coalition of youths and students of Bauchi State has called on the state government to set up a judicial commission of inquiry to investigate the event that took place on Friday so that the perpetrators will be brought to justice.
