Opinion
Of sadists, agonists and auctioneers
By Tunde Olusunle
That allusions, references and reminiscences are always, ever made to the music of the maverick Nigerian Afrobeat musician, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, speaks to the immutability, even immortality of his work. Fela was in eternal battles with successive Nigerian governments, tirelessly speaking truth to them, even at the risk of his life. Trevor Schoonmaker in a 2004 critique of Fela’s work, notes that he “created Afrobeat, an infectious mix of American funk and jazz, with traditional Yoruba and highlife music and used it to rail against corrupt Nigerian governments.” Fela’s notable, radical compositions include: “Authority Stealing,” “Army Arrangement,” “Coffin for Head of State,” “Beast of No Nation” and “ITT.”
Were Fela still with us today, the news from the National Executive Committee, (NEC) meeting of the ruling All Progressives Congress, (APC), held Wednesday April 20, 2022, would most probably have elicited a replay of his 1977 hit, “Sorrow, Tears and Blood,” (STB). Yes, if Nigerians were ever in doubt that the political party which has administered their country since May 29, 2015 was through and through an agglomeration of marauders and buccaneers, committed to their continuing pauperisation and political annihilation, the events of Wednesday April 20, 2022, should be instructive. That NEC meeting hosted by Adamu Abdullahi, chairman of the party, rolled out exorbitantly prohibitive, brazenly anti-people fees for expression of interest and nomination forms, for prospective seekers of political offices in the 2023 general elections.
Abdullahi by the way, was recently installed in this position under circumstances characterised by glaring coercive consensus. All his co-contestants for the position, where compelled in APC’s characteristic neck-on-the-chopping-block democracy, to attest to a pre-written letter, withdrawing their candidature. This has become typical of the operations manual of the APC. The NEC meeting was attended by the party’s big wigs, including Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria’s president, and Yemi Osinbajo, his deputy who is aspiring alongside a dozen other contestants, to succeed Buhari, among other leaders of the party.
Aspirants to the office of the President are to pay the sum of N100 million for their nomination forms, while Nigerians aspiring for the gubernatorial ticket of the party, will be requested to pay half of the sum required of presidential aspirants, N50 million in their own case. Party members questing for the senatorial tickets of the APC, will remit N20 million to the coffers of the party, while those desirous of seats in the lower parliament, are expected to pay the sum of N10 million. Those who desire to fly the party’s flag in the state assembly elections, will be requested to pay N2 million.
Friday March 18, 2022, the opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party, (PDP), had rolled out the subscription fees for all levels of aspirants to various elective offices. And the window for the sale of the forms was kept open for over a month, closing Friday April 22. Whereas prospective presidential candidates were required to pay N40 million for their expression of interest and nomination forms, aspiring governors were levied N21 million. Prospective senators and house of representatives members, were requested to subscribe with N3.5 million and N2.5 million, respectively. Aspirants into the various state constituencies at the state level, were taxed N600,000 only.
Interestingly, the four-month old national leadership of the PDP, has for the first time in a long while, made public the aggregate sums realised from the sale of forms in the current politicking cycle. Some preceding leaderships of the party were notorious for opacity and lack of accountability in their record-keeping and operations. The PDP has indeed been the butt of taunts and derision by the APC for the non-completion of its purpose-conceived national headquarters for, for which an appeal fund was launched in the past and sumptuous sums realised, without a revisit of the project. The Iyorchia Ayu-led NEC of the party in a rare and uncommon display of transparency, however, recently announced that monies in excess of a whopping N9 billion, have thus far been realized from the sale of forms.
The Social Democratic Party, (SDP), which is positioning itself as a possible fallback for potential elective office aspirants, has equally set the fees for its expression of interest and nomination forms, en route to the 2023 polls. Presidential nomination documents are obtainable at N35 million; governorship aspirants are to pay N16 million, while senatorial contenders will pay N3 million. Contestants for the lower national parliament will pick up their forms for N1.7 million, while prospective aspirants for state assembly seats, are to pay N500,000 only.
Back in December 2014, a few months before the general elections of 2015, the APC set its presidential nomination forms at N27 million. Buhari, Atiku Abubakar, Nigeria’s enigmatic former vice president; Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, a two-term governor of Kano State; Rochas Okorocha, also a two-term governor in Imo State and Sam Nda-Isaiah (may his soul rest in peace), a newspaper publisher, were contenders for that ticket. The cost of the forms were perceived too expensive for Buhari at the time. He had built a public profile over time, of a modest, austere and frugal personality, who could possibly, not muster the resources for such an “expensive” ticket. His media managers threw a spin around the subject then, proffering that Buhari actually obtained a bank loan to pay for the forms! How very ingenious!!
In September 2018, a phoney “National Consolidation Ambassadors Network,” (NCAN), led by one Sanusi Musa, procured the presidential expression of interest and nomination forms for N45 million, ahead of Buhari’s second term election the following year. The group advanced that it raised the sum from contributions polled from supporters and admirers of the President. The gesture they said, was “in appreciation of Buhari’s achievements since he assumed office.” Buhari was subsequently adopted as sole aspirant and candidate, by consensus, by his party.
Buhari postured like a “born again” democrat when Nigerians finally gave him a chance as their overlord in 2015, after three earlier failed attempts. He was tearful when he addressed his supporters after his third electoral fiasco in 2011, swearing he would never seek the presidency anymore. His eventual ascent to the position, fuelled hope, promise and optimism in the polity. The pseudo- *talakawa* facade of his public portraiture, engendered palpable expectations. This was accentuated by the tepid testimonial of his predecessor, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. Nigeria’s long expected messiah and liberator had come, at last, it seemed.
And exactly what has been the performance evaluation report of the Buhari-led APC administration seven years down the line? What has informed its subsisting puffiness, which in turn has fuelled the 300% hike in the cost of application forms into various political offices, between 2014 and the present? How well has the nation’s incumbent leadership fulfilled its electoral promises and pledges, within its constitutionally allowed two terms of four years, thus far? How well have the lives and wellbeing of the average Nigerian been positively impacted by this government?
A peek into the balance sheet of the APC, reveals bottomless deficits and lacunas, which stand in total contrast to its highfalutin pre-election promises of 2015. The security situation across the country has become a hydra-headed ogre. From the pre-2015 *Boko Haram* insurgency in the nation’s north east, every geopolitical zone in the country is contending with some security challenge or the other. Banditry and kidnapping have virtually overrun the north west, spilling into parts of the north central. In the course of a recent official visit to Sokoto State, Buhari himself confessed he didn’t know the profundity of the security challenges of the zone.
The vagrants in emboldened ruthlessness, recently attacked a commuter train in motion, within the geographical space of Kaduna State, killing many innocent travellers, and abducting several others, in expectation of ransoms by families and government. Herdsmen have serially plodded carefree, through farmlands in the north central, fuelling bloody confrontations with farmers. The international community was alarmed at a live coverage by the US-based Cable Network News, (CNN), early 2019, of the mass internment of over 70 victims of herdsmen’s belligerence, in Benue State, to underscore the herdsmen’s menace.
Road travel has become a mortally dangerous venture across the country, no thanks to the blossoming kidnapping industry in the land. In bold-faced derision of the phenomenally lax, maybe nonexistent security apparatus in the country, bandits brazenly mount sentry on our so-called highways and expressway, pleasurably harvesting hapless victims from their vehicles. Some are literally executed to the crimson delight of the perverts, women get raped, others get dragged through the thickets of labyrinthine forests. Hitherto unheard ritualistic practices, bordering on the dissection of innocent victims and harvesting of vital human organs, have become the vogue in a depressing milieu, which has accentuated a get-rich-quick desire among sections of the people.
Terror also reigns in parts of the country’s south east, where hapless dignitaries have been targeted and killed, mafia-style, on the streets of Igboland. Outlawed outfits like the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, (IPOB), the Eastern Security Network, (ESN), and a host of faceless groups and gunmen, have made it pastime to spring surprise attacks on law-abiding citizens in communities. Homes of notable Igbo leaders have been serially set ablaze in inexplicable mindedness. Security personnel and outposts are also targets of these ruinous sub-humans. Cannibalism has been reported in the enclaves of some murderous gangs, stormed by intelligence and security personnel. Significantly, all of these are happening under the nostrils of a president who was once-upon-a-time an army general.
We have in place a government which swore in 2015, to arrest the floundering electricity situation within six months. It has been the shameless job of the same regime in recent weeks, however, to announce the serial collapse of the nation’s electricity grid. The nation today in the main, runs on alternate power sources, mostly oiled by diesel fuel. The price of this product, used to power diesel generators, recently skyrocketed by 150% from the previous rate of N340 per litre, to well over N700 for the same quantity.
The Nigerian Bureau of Statistics, (NBS), a few days back, announced an 83% increment in the price of cooking gas. A petrol scarcity, triggered by the importation of adulterated quantities of the fuel, has only begun to abate, after several weeks of winding queues on the streets of the nation’s cities and night vigils by our people in fuel stations. The naira has continued its free cascade all through the Buhari years, exchanging for nearly N600 to one US dollar, in recent days. Inflationary trends are sky high, flattening the erstwhile haughtiness of presumptuous wads and bales of naira notes, in the unsmiling marketplace.
APC’s ongoing auctioneering of its expression of interest and nomination forms, its imposition of treacherous and intolerable rates on the subscription forms for intending aspirants, is a pertinent reminder of the traditional Yoruba song: *Bamu, bamu la yo/Bamu ba la yo/Awa o mo pe ebi n’pa enikankan/Bamu bamu la yo.* This translates as: “We’ve feted ourselves and had our fill. We are unaware that anyone is famished.” We have emplaced leaders who have not only ravaged our commonwealth, they have literally erected barricades to the desires and ambitions of the mass of the people. Let him stand up to be recognised, that public officer including the president, whose publicly stated remuneration can fund the recently enunciated tariffs of the APC expression of interest and nomination forms. It has been suggested that the president’s salary for four years is N57 million. How many private aspirants to the nation’s top job, can aggregate twice this sum, in the current economy?
Unconsciously, the APC has only formally issued an evaluation on itself, about the magnitude of the degeneration of the socioconomy, under its watch. Simply put, the party certifies that a minimum inflation of 300% has been experienced by the economy in the last seven years, if its presidential nomination forms, have quadrupled from N27 million in 2015, to N100 million in 2022. Yes, the party has just told Nigerians, that ascension to elective office in Nigeria, is the exclusive preserve of the nouveau riche. Nigerians have also been taught a new trick, to cultivate a grabbist appetite, a desire for voluptuous consumptiveness, whenever they find themselves in public office. It behoves on Nigerians to choose to continue the *follow follow* behind the special purpose vehicle, (SPV), in which its present overlords rose to power, which has inflicted unfathomable, multidimensional pain, discomfort and agony on them. The onus is on them, to embrace an alternative vessel which will assuage their angst, anger and agonies, post-2023.
Olusunle, PhD, poet, journalist, author and scholar, is a Member of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, (NGE).
By Hamza Lamisi
No doubt that one of the expected big game Changers of the 10th National Assembly, particularly the Senate, is the emergence of a vocal voice who ran one of the country’s most persecuted election campaigns in Nigeria’s history. From the feminine gender in a male dominated political ecosystem to being transracial in a highly conservative District; a Christian in Muslim-saturated bargain table of stakeholders, from being single to inter-tribally married in a natively and culturally republic Ebira Land. Not only to contest in a struggling opposition party but to face the most ruthless Chief Security Officer of her State, from her District.
The odds were obviously too many but Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan upturned the guess – defeating the threatening ruling party and emerging the first female Senator Kogi State ever produced. She defined the turning point of Kogi Central’s representation in Nigeria’s bicameral Parliament. Unlike her colleagues from Kogi State who rode on the backing of the number one citizen of the State, Senator Natasha’s road to the red Chambers was never paved, it was a tough and rough journey of determination, persistence, unwavering dedication and commitment to a dream held in trust for the people.
She walked through the storms and she is shaped by the lessons – to remain bold, assertive, unbroken, unbeaten and unbowed by any circumstance, because only by struggle and perseverance freedom comes. Not unaware of the systemic dialogue, lobby and collaboration but Senator Natasha would not do so at the expense or in exchange of the People’s trust and mandate for which she swore oath to protect.
Stepping into the Senate as a survivor of election and litigation battles, and looking back to the unwavering support and uncommon trust of Kogi people and Nigerians by extension, notwithstanding already some months behind her fellow law makers, Senator Natasha was prepared to have the end justify the means. Barely 16 months from the very day of her swearing-in till date, Senator Natasha’s contributions and impact in the 10th Senate have left many wonder if she was a first time Senator or one elected from the minority opposition. Most popular and best performing member of the current National Assembly.
Just within one year in office, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan lit 30 kilometers of road networks across Kogi Central with over 2,000 solar powered streetlights. Over 1,300 women and youth were trained and empowered by the law maker. Senator Natasha has supported the tuition fee of over 353 vulnerable indigenous students at tertiary institutions nationwide. She has faciliated federal employment opportunities for various graduates and facilitate capacity building trainings and empowerment for many others.
She brought a reliable supply of portable water to Kogi Central communities with 12 water reticulation projects with each being a massive 50,000-liter solar-powered motorized water system, which serves 300 locations and provides, 1,800 fetching taps.
To draw legislation closer to the grassroot, Senator Natasha engaged 100 constituency aides both men and women across the 57 wards in Kogi Central. She has distributed 12 trucks of grains, 10, 000 wrappers for women, 20,000 notebooks, 5,000 school bags and reconstructed and remodeled Abdul Aziz Attah Memorial College Okene (AAAMCO), Okene to smart school.
Within one year in office, Senator Natasha has attracted employments in both federal agencies and private organizations to over 30 graduates from her constituency.
Ihima community has been without police station for the past 7 years, Senator Natasha embarked on total reconstruction of Ihima Police Station which was commissioned by the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun.
Senator Natasha distributed 4 trucks of fertilizers totalling 2,400 bags of NPK and Urea fertilizers to Kogi Central farmers. Free Business CAC registration of 2,500 SMEs. She has empowered Kogi Central students from 12 selected tertiary institutions across Nigeria with multipurpose business cart and start up fund.
Commissioned six constituency offices in the five LGAs to make government closer to the people. Senator Natasha has sponsored two motions and two bills including the bill for the establishment of Nigeria Gold Reserve, the bill for the establishment of Ihima Federal Medical Centre, motion to investigate alleged corruption and inefficiency in Ajaokuta Company Ltd and National Iron Ore Mining Company, NIOMCO amongst other.
Senator Natasha has provided 5,000 digital learning devices to both public primary and secondary schools in Kogi Central.
For her magical achievements in office and accelerated development and impact her constituency has witnessed, Senator Natasha has received and even turned down several prestigious awards. She emerged Senator of the year 2024 which is her first year in office as Senator.
Achieving these feats in less than 16 months as a first time Senator and one from the minority party and from Kogi Central, one may wonder what could be the Achilles’ Heels of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan in the 10th Senate and why the persecution by supposed colleagues in the Chambers. Is there a question of loyalty to individual rather than institution? Is it her performance record or her dedication to the business of legislation rather than playing the cheap political cards around the leadership of the Senate? Is it her idea of universal development of Nigeria rather than regional? After all, every Senator is of the Federal Republic Nigeria and should think and act so.
We may ask further; is anyone being threatened by her uncommon pace? Is there a question of envy or jealousy among her colleagues? Do they expect Senator Natasha to be one step behind, considering the enormity of the task on her shoulders as Senator from an already underrepresented District in the past? Is there a fear that Senator Natasha may reveal to Nigerians what is due to them from their representatives across boards? We may have more to ask than provide answers.
Meanwhile, Senator Natasha is a more than equal to the task of addressing the challenges that come with standing out in an uncommon manner. She is not one to be taught the difference between ‘diplomacy and cold slavery’ or ‘breach of rules and violation of right’. Nobody can silence her or box her to a corner of the Senate. Beyond her voice and impact over the years as an ordinary citizen, the people have been her greatest strength and she can only get more strengthed by any attempt to silence her.
Nigerians know how rare it is to have a NATASHA among the current crop of leaders and they are obviously making sure she is protected against bully, intimidation or harassment in the Senate. The dream is of the people, by the people and for the people, and so the mandate too.
By Professor Mike Ozekhome, SAN, CON, OFR, LL.D.
I have carefully read and listened to former Nigerian military president, General Ibrahim
Badamosi Babagida’s public remorse and regrets over the atrocious annulment of the June
12,1993 presidential elections. He did this 32 whopping years later. I want to very quickly say
that it takes a man with strong guts and balls and a man who has become repentant, born
again and has seen the face of God to publicly recant his earlier wrongful deeds and offer
public apology to the entire nation. This was no doubt meant to heal gapinng wounds and
balm wounded and bruised hearts.
The polls, the best, most transparent and credible elections, ever held in Nigeria till date,
were meant to end decades of military d The annulment threw Nigeria into turmoil and
widespread unreast, protests, maimings and killings. This forced Babagida to “step aside”;
the enthronenent of the Enest Shonekan’s Interim Government; and the arrest and detention
of Chief Moshood Abiola, the presumed winner who later died in Aso Villa in questionable
and suspicious circumstances. Of course, General Sani Abacha who was his second in
command later sacked Shonekan in a bloodless coup. For years, IBB prevaricated on the
annulment, claiming he did it in the best national interest. But on Thursday the 21st of
February, 2025,Babangida during the presentation of his memoirs, “A journey In Service”,
pointedly regretted in the public: “I regret June 12. I accept full responsibility for the
decisions taken and June 12 happened under my watch. Mistakes, missteps happened
in quick succession. That accident of history is most regrettable. The nation is entitled
to expect my expression of regret “. And wait for it:: he acknowledged for the first time that
Abiola won the elections fair and square, trouncing his major opponent, Alhaji Bashir Tofa.
I want to salute Babagida for having the courage and humility to own up like a man; that
everything that happened during the June 12 crisis took place under him as the head of state
and the president who was also the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria. I salute him for acknowledging that his government which actually
organised unarguably the freest, fairest and most credible elections in the electoral history
of Nigeria when it introduced option A4 from electoral books that were hithenlrto unknown
to Nigeria or to the world. But unfortunately, regrettably like he now admits, he again turned
around to annul the same elections in a way that was most bizarre, curious and unnatural.
To me, that he has come out to open up to doing something wrong and egregious to a
bleeding nation should be appreciated. I believe that Nigerians should forgive him because
to err is human and to forgive is divine ( Eph 4:32 ). I personally have now forgiven him
because I was also a victim of the June12 crisis. It threw up all manners of challenges to me
as a person, where in my very youthful age; in my thirties, I found myself marching on the
streets of Lagos every day- from Ikeja bus stop roundabout, to Ikorodu road; up to Tejuosho
market; from there to Ojuelegba, Surulere; to Mushin; to Shomolu and Igando, Alimosho.
Everyday, we were on the streets, protesting the mindless annulment. Some of us were killed
in process; some were lucky enough to escape abroad on self exile. But some of us- very few
indeed- refused to flee our dear country; we stayed back. We stared at the military eyeball to
eyeball. We challenge authority and spoke truth to power. We challenged impunity and
repression. I suffered several detentions across different detention centres. I virtually could
not find means of livelihood for my youthful family because I was profiled, my phones bugged
and no briefs were coming in. But I personally forgive him because it takes tons of guts to
make public confession of having erred and atone for same as he has now done.
It is confession that leads to penance and penance leads to restitution and then forgiveness.
If Babagida were to die today, I believe that he will see the face of God because he has prayed
God to forgive him; and he has prayed Nigerians to forgive him. Beyond that historic and
epochal mistake of the annulment of the June 12 election which constitutes his original sin,
let me place it on record that Babagida is one of the greatest presidents that Nigeria ever had
in terms of his ingenuity, rulership mantra; ideas for national resurgimento; ideas that
contributed greatly to nation-building. These were aside the IMF-induced loans and pills
which he introduced and which we again valiantly fought against successfully.
Babagida it was who gave birth to the Federal Capital Territory and laid the solid foundation for virtually everything you see there today. His government was peopled by intellectuals and
not by half illiterates and quacks. He recognized and used intellects. He was luminous and he built bridges of understanding, friendship and brotherhood across Nigeria. Nigerians,
please, accept IBB’s confession and forgive him his sin of annuling the June 12,1993
elections. Let the wounds heal; let the heart melt; and let the spirit of national triumphalism
prevail.
Festivals world over are the most popular forms of celebrations in human existence. Whether as religious, culture, sports, film, arts and other traditional practices, festivals are pivotal events that could involve millions of people in the case of the religion related across the globe annually or periodically. They are events that bring people together and are characterized with merriments, ceremonies, and a lot of other forms of fun and bonding.
Nigeria as a multi ethnic and diverse society with over 250 ethnic groups is enriched with various forms of festivals observed annually with those of religions most prominent with the celebrations by Muslims and Christians. Similarly, the traditional worshippers retain their own forms of festivals all depending on the tribes and the culture involved. Several among the religious and cultural festivals in Nigeria include Christmas the celebration of the birthday of Jesus Christ, the Easter that heralds lent and the resurrection of Jesus after death while Islam has Eid-el Kabir and Eid El-fitri which is breaking of Ramadan fasting. At the level of culture and tradition there other festivals that comes to mind that includes Argungu fishing festival in Kebbi state, the new yam festival predominantly among the Ibo speaking tribes, Durbar festival, Calabar Carnival, Osun festival, Ojude Oba festival, Igue festival among the Benin people of Edo state, Oro festival, Osun festival, Sango festival, Egungun festival all among the Yoruba people, New Yam festival, Eyo festival popular among the people of Lagos Island in Lagos state and so on.
Durbar Festival
The word Durbar is traced to Persian and is connected with the ceremony marking the installation of Queen Victoria as the Express of Colonial India in 1877 while the word have been pronounced and propounded as “darbar” with dar meaning door and bar meaning entry or audience in Hindi-Urdu. In Nigeria, Durbar is a treasured cultural horse riding and display festival majorly among the Hausa people of the northern Nigeria to mark the Islamic holidays of Eid-el- Fitri [end of Ramadan} and Eid-el-Adha [the feast of the lamb]. The over 400 years old practice is said to have been introduced by Sarki Muhammadu Rumfa of Kano in the late 14th century as military parade and display when horses were used in battles to defend and protect the Emirate and also the opportunity to pay homage and demonstrate loyalty to the emir. It is also part of demonstration to showcase the readiness of the palace troops for battles and to also celebrate important political events. Available information has it that the first major Durbar in the country took place on the 1st of January, 1900 as part of the celebration to mark the transition of the Royal Niger Company to an imperial Protectorate.
Also known as horse ride festival it is worthy of note that horses and to some extent camels played prominent roles in the growth and developments of the today prominent Nigeria cities like Kano, Katsina, Zaria, Sokoto and Bida. In the 14th century before the sojourn of Christopher Columbus, aside being used during conquest and in battlefields under the command of the Madawaki who leads cavalry of horsemen with their horses loaded with various weapons, horses were used mostly for commercial activities particularly the trans Sahara trade expansion with items like salt, gold and farm produces.
Ceremonies
The activities and ceremonies involves “Hawan sallah” in Hausa language {meaning Mount of Eid} which in essence connotes the mounting of horse during the Eid or sallah celebration. The ceremonies begin with prayers at Eid grounds followed with parade of the Emir and his entourage on horses followed with drummers and trumpeters with the movement ending at the Emir’s palace. The parade includes hundreds of beautifully decorated horses with nobles in their best clothes followed by musicians and magicians all in a long procession in distinctive turbans {Rawani} clearly indicating their nobility and social status through streets to pay homage to the Emir. Other special attractions particularly in Kano Durbar which is acclaimed to possess the biggest parade of colouful horses in the world, include the display by the “hyena man” who carries out street performance with trained animals like hyenas and baboons which create a lot of excitements and entertainment for the hundreds of crowd in attendance.
The procession of the strictly male event showcases participants dressed in flamboyant turbans and robes with modes indicating their royal linage. Kano Durbar for example is four day event that commences with Hawan sallah on the day of Eid followed by the day 2 and most popular for its entertainment and glamour Hawan Daushe for the special visitation of the Emir and his colourful entourage to his mother in her domain. The display of various entertainers including magicians, drummers, dancers, stunt men and masquerades attract and witness the attendance and spectators across the globe. The other two days are for Hawan Nassarawa and finally Hawan Doriya which are both continuous aspects for merriment during the festival.
The Emir’s return from his mother’s visitation on the day 2 {Hawan Daushe} is followed by The Jahi that sees the him and his entourage ride through various important historical quarters and families before returning to the palace. On arrival the Emir in a military manner takes position to receive salutes and traditional greetings from the cavalry of riders along with the various district heads, their families and entourage in order of hierarchy. This is followed by the demonstration of loyalty and gallantry by all the riders and spectators present. After the homage and performances, [The Jahi] the palace guards take positions and fire several gunshots to signal the closure and end of the day and most important aspect of the four day festival.
Durbar festival has become annual festival celebrated across cities Northern Muslim dominated cities of Nigeria like Kano, Katsina, Sokoto, Zaria and Bida and was extended to Ilorin in Kwara state during Eid el-fitri and Eid El-Adha. Generally speaking, the Durbar festival is not just the most population cultural heritage of the Hausa people of the northern Nigeria and major parts of Niger republic but it is festival that unite and bring the people together to celebrate their unique historical and cultural heritage.
Durbar festival recently has witnessed more activities like car racing and other fun fairs that attract sons and daughters of Hausa decent, visitors and tourist annually to places like Kano, Katsina and Zaria. The glamour, popularity and attractions of Durbar particularly the Kano Durbar festival over the years, led to the recognition of the festival as one of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by the UNESCO in in December 17, 2024. This laudable and significant achievement in the nation’s cultural heritage exemplified the extent to which the festival has become popular to the people and the role it places towards unifying the people through their rich cultural heritage. During the presentation of the UNESCO certificate, by the Permanent Delegation of Nigeria to UNESCO to the Minister of Art, Culture, Tourism and Creative Economy Barr. Hannatu Musawa, opined that the great achievement does “not only celebrates the beauty and unity of the festival but also creates opportunities for the preservation and promotion of cultural heritage. The country’s representative at the UNESCO in addition stated that “Having the Kano Durbar on the UNESCO list is a huge milestone for Nigeria” while the Minister in her view remarked that “the recognitions bring both international prestige and tangible benefits to the local economy”.
In comparison, while Ujude Oba yet another similar festival of the Ijebu people of Ogun state in Western Nigeria, entails the participation of both male and female across various age groups as part of the big sallah [Eid-edha] celebration of the Muslim faithful. While both festivals identify or are associated with royalty, palace events and horse riding, durbar is strictly a male show and more of an horse riding festival while the practice is just an aspect of horse riding is just an aspect of Ojude Oba festival.
It is hope that the recent drive by the present administration leverages on the recent recognition of Durbar by the UNESCO to create more awareness through wider media coverage with a view of boosting general interest and tourist attractions which shall cascade or stimulate growth of the sector and also serve as source revenue to the governments across all levels.
Abdulkareem A. Ikharo.
Curator [NCMM].
Abuja.
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