Chieftaincy tussle: Lagos Shuwa-Arab community seeks intervention

The Shuwa-Arab community in Lagos State has called for urgent intervention from prominent stakeholders to resolve a chieftaincy tussle it fears may cause a serious crisis among its members. At a briefing yesterday addressed in Lagos by the community’s secretary and legal adviser, Barrister Khurso Addudu, the Shuwa-Arabs appealed for continued recognition of the Sultan, […]

The Shuwa-Arab community in Lagos State has called for urgent intervention from prominent stakeholders to resolve a chieftaincy tussle it fears may cause a serious crisis among its members.

At a briefing yesterday addressed in Lagos by the community’s secretary and legal adviser, Barrister Khurso Addudu, the Shuwa-Arabs appealed for continued recognition of the Sultan, Shuwa-Arab, Alhaji Jibrin Yaya Ibrahim, who they claimed the late Oba Adeyinka Oyekan of Lagos installed for them in 1991, as their leader.

According to Addudu, the Shuwa-Arab community in Lagos has remained peaceful and law-abiding under the leadership of Sultan Ibrahim, who, he said, had always ensured that his subjects complied with the rules and regulations stipulated by the Constitution and those in positions of authority.

He, however, lamented that in recent months, some individuals had been trying to cause disaffection among the community’s members by trying to impose another leadership on them.

“As Shuwa-Arabs, we have our cultures. We have our traditions, language and distinct identity. In Lagos State, we have had as our leaders Sultan Wanu Walgadu, Sultan Fuggu Abdulkareem and Sultan Hassanah Abdullahi before the installation of the current Sultan Ibrahim by Oba Oyekan in 1991. He was chosen by the generality of the people.

“We are appealing to all concerned stakeholders to let us remain under the leadership of the Sultan that we jointly chose in 1991. We don’t want anyone to lump us under a different leadership in Lagos State other than our own,” the legal adviser said.

Sultan Ibrahim himself said notwithstanding attempts by some people to undermine his position by “falsely parading themselves as having the support of certain forces from Borno State”, he remained the recognised leader of the Shuwa-Arab community in the Lagos State because he was installed by the Oba of Lagos.