The Sokoto State House of Assembly has passed a bill seeking to reduce the powers of the Sultan of Sokoto for first and second reading.
The bill, titled the Sokoto Emirate Council Amendment Bill, if passed into law, seeks to, among other things, strip the sultan of powers to appoint the kingmakers and will also strip the sultan of powers to appoint district heads without government approval, among other things.
The development follows rumours which went viral that the Sokoto state government is allegedly plotting to depose the Sultan.
Governor Ahmed Aliyu had earlier deposed 15 traditional rulers for various offences, and there are rumours that the Sultan might be next in line.
The rumours prompted the Vice President of Nigeria, Kashim Shettima, to declare on Monday that the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, is much more than just the Sultan.
According to Shettima, the Sultan is an institution that must be guarded and protected jealously, adding that the Sultan goes beyond Sokoto and represents an idea that belongs to the entire country.
The Vice President stated this at the North West Peace and Security Summit held in Katsina State.
In response, the Sokoto State government denied any plan to dethrone the monarch, describing the allegation as false.
The state Commissioner for Information, Sambo Danchadi, explained that the law guiding the appointment of traditional rulers in the state has not changed.
Danchadi described that allegation as “the imagination of MURIC and the opposition in the state.’’
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