Since the return to democratic rule in Nigeria on 29 May, 1999 after close to three decades of military interregnum, the authority and powers of chiefs and chieftaincy institutions have dissipated thereby exposing them to abuse, intimidation and ridicule by the ruling political elite. This paper examines the deployment of queries, suspension and banishment of traditional rulers in some states in contemporary Northern Nigeria. Unlike in the pre-colonial era that traditional rulers in Northern Nigeria commanded enormous respects, power and authority, the onslaught of British colonialism weakened and decimated the authority of chiefs.
Through brute force and law fare, the colonial administrators usurped the powers of the chiefs. But even after independence and more lamentably, since the return to civilian rule, the post-colonial political leadership in Nigeria have continued to undermine, suppress and exploit chiefs and chieftaincy institutions for partisan gains.
This study draws largely from the recent ugly events in chieftaincy institutions in Kano and Kogi States of Nigeria were chiefs were queried, suspended, dethroned and exiled for not kowtowing to demands of politicians. I collected primary data and specifically analysed five of such queries and suspension letters in order to understand the quotidian politics, poetics and textuality of vendetta in political communication.
Primary and secondary data were used for this study. The primary data involved the use of oral interviews especially with key informants in Kano and Kogi states while secondary data included the use of secondary literature like books, newspapers, magazines, television reports. Collected data were qualitatively analysed through content analysis. The study concludes that the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is largely responsible for the precarious placement of chiefs and chieftaincy institutions in modern Nigeria
because it created no specific role for them and left chieftaincy affairs as an exclusive preserve of states governors with vested partisan interests. Thus, royal fathers have become mere ‘errand boys’ of the state governors. Attempts by chiefs to assert royal authority, independence and apolitical postures have often pitched them against the state and its officials thereby leading to conflicts.
Der Vortrag findet im Rahmen der Ringvorlesung der Arbeitsbereiche NNG und ZG im Raum O1.224 statt. Insgesamt sieben Historiker*innen geben uns Einblicke in ihre laufenden Forschungsprojekte. Alle an Geschichte Interessierten sind zum Zuhören und Mitdiskutieren jederzeit willkommen.
