Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, on Wednesday described Kano elders as ‘fake’ and ‘opportunists’ who hate development.
The Governor pledged to implement the provisions of the law on the newly created four First-Class Emirates while blasting the elders who are opposing the move.
According to Ganduje, the new emirates have come to stay.
Ganduje spoke to reporters after the State’s Executive Council meeting on Wednesday.
He said, “We will look at the law very critically and see areas that are waiting for implementation.
“I assure all that we are going to implement all sections of the law, as provided by the law, 100 per cent, without any let or hindrance.”
He waved aside the calls by Advocates for United Kano, led by Alhaji Bashir Othman Tofa, to stop the creation of the new emirate councils.
The Governor said, “Those who call themselves Kano Elders are mere opportunists who exhibit tendencies that are inimical to the overall development of the state.
“They are fake! They are a bunch of individuals who don’t even understand history, traditionalists who do not support any form of transformation.
“Before now, the institutions of police, courts and Prisons were all under the control of our traditional institutions. But what is obtainable now is as a result of transformation. No society or institution is static. They are dynamic.
“All the four first-class Emirates were created out of the zeal to develop all nooks and crannies of the state.
“Traditional system is not all about ceremonies or regalia. It is about fusing strategies on how to develop the society; no more, no less.
“That is why we said, times without number, that we need the support and cooperation of our traditional institutions in the areas of health, security, agriculture and education.”
Ganduje challenged his opponents to “go to those newly created Emirates and tell people there that they (elders) don’t need those Emirates. They cannot do that.
“Very soon, people will suddenly realise that these so-called elders are simply anti-development. Let them go and say they are not in support of the creation of those new Emirates.”
The Governor called on the newly appointed district heads “to always support their Emirs in the discharge of their responsibilities.”
“Letters of appointment to all the five first-class Emirs, as members of the Kano State Council of Emirs, were given to them. So, what we are after now is the full take-off of the council.
“That is why I gave directive to the Commissioner of Works and Infrastructural Development to start, in earnest, renovation of the Gidan Shettima, the seat of the council.”
NAN