The Middle Belt Forum (MBF) has voiced strong opposition to a clause in the National Council for Traditional Rulers of Nigeria (Establishment) Bill, 2024, which seeks to designate the Sultan of Sokoto and the Ooni of Ife as permanent co-chairmen of the proposed council.
In a statement issued on Sunday, the MBF’s National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Luka Binniyat, described the proposal as “deeply troubling” and a distortion of Nigeria’s historical and cultural realities. The Forum rejected what it termed an attempt to institutionalise the Sultan of Sokoto as a permanent leader over other traditional rulers, particularly those in the Middle Belt.
The bill, sponsored by Senator Simon Bako Lalong (Plateau South), a prominent Middle Belt figure and the Gwad-Goemai of the Goemai ethnic nation, has already passed second reading in the Senate and is currently being reviewed by the Senate Committee on Establishment and Public Service.
“While we leave our esteemed partners from the Southern region to determine their position on the inclusion of the Ooni of Ife, the Middle Belt Forum unequivocally rejects, abhors, and condemns the institutionalisation of the Sultan of Sokoto as a permanent co-chairman of this proposed council,” Binniyat stated.
He argued that the Sultanate of Sokoto, established in the 19th century, is historically junior to several ancient monarchies within the Middle Belt region. Citing examples such as the Kwararafa Confederacy, Binniyat noted that traditional institutions like the Aku Uka of Wukari predate the Sokoto Caliphate by centuries.
“The Sultan of Sokoto can therefore not supersede the Aku Uka of Wukari in status and prestige to sit over him as Chairman of a Traditional Council created by law,” the statement emphasized.
The MBF also pointed to other revered institutions in the region, including the Attah of Igala and the Tor Tiv, as historically independent and culturally significant monarchies that were never under the control of the Sokoto Caliphate.
“The Igala Kingdom never came under the Caliphate’s domain and continues to represent deep-rooted indigenous authority far older and more authentically Nigerian than the Sokoto Sultanate,” the statement read.
Binniyat also referenced the Tiv nation, describing it as one of Nigeria’s largest ethnolinguistic groups that maintained an acephalous structure and resisted Caliphate expansionism. He stated that requiring the Tor Tiv to permanently defer to the Sultan would represent “a gross distortion of historical facts and a violation of indigenous dignity.”
The MBF called on the National Assembly to revisit the clause and uphold Nigeria’s federal and cultural diversity in structuring the proposed Council of Traditional Rulers.
