A faith-based human rights organization, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), has condemned the invasion of the palace of the late Sarkin Kwali, Alhaji Adamu Katsina. The group also called on the FCT authorities to install one of the children of the late Sarki as his successor.
This was disclosed in a statement issued on Monday, 29th July, 2024 by the Executive Director of MURIC, Professor Ishaq Akintola.
The full statement reads:
“Youths suspected to be loyal to the chairman of Kwali area council recently invaded the palace of the late Sarkin Kwali, Alhaji Adamu Katsina. The invaders allegedly stole valuables including traditional and royal insignia.
“Although family members of the late Sarkin Kwali informed the DPO of Kwali, the chairman of the FCT Council of Traditional Rulers, the Department of State Services (DSS), and the FCT administration; nothing appears to have been done to apprehend the perpetrators and deter future occurrence.
“MURIC strongly condemns the invasion and vandalisation of the palace. In particular, we denounce the desecration of tombs of past Sarkin Kwalis. It is sacrilegious, barbaric and disrespectful of the dead.
We note with utmost concern the failure of successive FCT administrations to install the Sarkin Kwali after the demise of Alhaji Adamu Katsina in 2009.
“True to the maxim that nature hates vacuum, it was the vacancy of the stool that hoodlums leveraged upon to invade the palace. Such a brazen attack would not have been contemplated had there been a Sarkin Kwali on the stool.
“While we acknowledge the fact that the Etsu Nupe had already been appointed and turbanned, installing a new Sarkin Kwali should not prove challenging to FCT authorities because there is a recognized structure of the traditional institution on ground in the FCT. The system provides two separate stools in the Kwali chiefdom. Thus the Etsu Kwali and the Sarkin Kwali have always existed parri passu.
“We therefore advocate that the Sarki Kwali stool should be retained. The stool has been in existence since the native authority days in the 60s through the regional government of Northern Nigeria, Northwestern State, Niger State and, finally, the FCT.
“We urge the security agencies to get to the bottom of the invasion of the palace of the late Sarki Kwali and to arrest and prosecute the culprits. We also implore the FCT Minister to appoint one of the heirs of the last Sarki Kwali to succeed their father on the stool. As obtained in other parts of the Bwari Area Council of the FCT, doing so does not preclude the FCT administration from also appointing one of the indigenes as Etsu Kwali and one exists already.”