Longkwo selection: Is it time for Yahaya Kwande’s lifelong dream?

Reports from Ba’ap, the headquarters of Qua’an Pan Local Government Area of Plateau State have indicated that the process for the selection of a new Longkwo of Kwo Chiefdom in the locality was held yesterday. According to the widely publicised reports, a former Nigeria’s envoy to Switzerland, Ambassador Yahaya Kwande garnered three out of the […]

Reports from Ba’ap, the headquarters of Qua’an Pan Local Government Area of Plateau State have indicated that the process for the selection of a new Longkwo of Kwo Chiefdom in the locality was held yesterday. According to the widely publicised reports, a former Nigeria’s envoy to Switzerland, Ambassador Yahaya Kwande garnered three out of the total votes of the five kingmakers, while his closest and only rival, Herbert Isa received two votes.

However, in circumstances that are reminiscent of the pattern that Ambassador Kwande had experienced in the nearly four decades of his struggle to ascend to the throne of his ancestors, there has been a noisy silence from official quarters on the outcome of the exercise.

According to unofficial sources, the election process was conducted by the Plateau State Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, and that the conduct was declared free and fair.

Media reports indicate that the people of Kwande town, the headquarters of the Kwo Chiefdom are anxiously awaiting official declaration of the result of the contest.

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Contacted yesterday, the Chairman of Qua’an Pan Local Government Area, Christopher Audu Manship, did not respond to requests for confirmation of the winner.

While some community members expressed concern over the delay in announcing the winner, others hope that the government will make an announcement soon, saying that there are procedures to follow before announcing the winner.

The initiation of the selection process followed the death of the immediate past Longkwo, His Royal Highness Miskoom Fidelis Longtoe Attahiru I, who died in March last year.

Attahiru I, a retired colonel in the Nigerian Army emerged as the 27th Longkwo in March, 2021, about 33 years after the demise of the last occupant of the stool.

If the result of the latest selection exercise is confirmed by the state government, it would be a fulfilment of a lifelong dream of Ambassador Kwande, a nonagenarian who had been touted for the position several times.

Ambassador Kwande’s tortuous road to lifelong ambition

Daily Trust recalls that Ambassador Kwande’s struggle to emerge as the Longkwo started in 1988 after the demise of Longkwo Miskoom Hoomkwap Sule II.

Yahaya Kwande was selected the Longkwo in 1989 and was to be installed on March 3, 1990, but a court order stopped the process following a case instituted by some of the princes. The court later nullified the selection, saying that the process was faulty.

However, in 2013, Ambassador Kwande won a chieftaincy case after he was selected and enthroned as the Longkwo of Kwande after the death of the late Longkwo, Homkwap Sule in July 1988.

He was, however, dethroned after eight months, following another court case filed by one Alexander Jibrin and 13 other princes who said he was not eligible for the throne.

Thereafter, the Court of Appeal presided over by Justice Peter Igbeh said evidence, including those from records of previous court sittings showed that Ambassador Kwande is one of the princes of Kwo chiefdom, and as such eligible to contest the seat.

Justice Igbeh ruled thus: “Oral and documentary evidence reveal that Yahaya Kwande is a descendant of one of the four ruling houses eligible to produce candidates.”

The court further stated that Ambassador Kwande’s father had at a time been the Galadima, a position that is second highest in ranking in the ruling house, and that being the Ciroma in the traditional institution, Ambassador Kwande has enough qualification for him to vie for the Longkwo.

Daily Trust was told at the time that part of the problem that weighed against Ambassador Kwande and robbed him of the Longkwo stool in 1989 was faulting of the process that brought him in. The five kingmakers, all dead by 2013, did the selection orally and did not document it as required by rules of the traditional council already in place at the time.

Since his removal, the stool of the Longkwo of Kwande remained vacant until in March 2021, when Governor Simon Bako Lalong approved the appointment of Miskoom Attahiru I as the monarch.

Even then, sources said Ambassador Kwande was the preferred candidate for the position, but was denied because of the extraneous factors.

Born on April 7, 1929, Ambassador Kwande, who is now 95 years old, has served as a teacher, civil servant, administrator and former Nigeria’s ambassador to Switzerland, between 1981 and 1984.