Bauchi: Ex-commissioner, Bukar tackles critics on Gung Zaar Select

By: Ajiya Ayuba, Bauchi

The former Bauchi Commissioner for Water resources, Bukata Bayero Bukar on Tuesday said that those who are busy reacting on the issue of the Gung Zaar Select rtd Air commodore Ishaku Komo of Sayawa chiefdom just because they lost out and also failed to manipulate him into appointing their brothers as village heads.

The Nations News Nigeriagathered that Bukata Bayero Bukar also served as commissioner for Agriculture, Information and currently a lecturer at the department of Pharmacology & Toxivology, University of Jos.

He made this known in a statement signed and issued to newsmen in Bauchi, saying that “Believe it or not, for any member of the Sayawa ethnic group of Bogoro and Tafawa-Balewa LGA, Bauchi state, the issue of their Chiefdom has been topical for many years”

“This is partly because it is central to their belief system which they have firmly held to protect against external aggressors for centuries. The Sayawas have a very rich culture that is comparable to none in the state”

He said that the Sayawas agitation for a separate Chiefdom predates the current generation. Gladly, in spite of all odds but to the glory of God, the Chiefdom was created in 2011, adding that the delay on its take-off more than a decade ago could be traced to the mischief of some few individuals both from within and outside the Sayawa Community.

The statement reads in parts: “Those from within are reacting because they lost out in the game, and also failed to manipulate the “Gung Zaar select” into appointing their brothers as hamlet heads”

“As they were initially very close to the Gung zaar select, because of the above reason, they now distanced themselves from him with several flimsy attempts to link the delay in coronation of the “Gung Zaar select”, Air Commodore Ishaku Komo (rtd) to illegality and lack of what they like referring to as due process”

He further said that the attempts has always failed woefully because history is replete with how traditional institutions among various ethnic groups in Nigeria started long before the British colonial masters arrived to establish their administration which the Sayawas were not an exception.

“Though they were unilaterally placed under the Bauchi emirate by the colonial administration through the indirect rule, the Sayawas have never been conquered in a war by any ethnic group or throughout their chequered history right from Yemen through Ngazargamu to their present location. Until the emergence of “Gung Zaar select” through the process of doctrine of necessity, the last of their central leader was Baba Peter Gonto (1882-2000).

This simple historical fact therefore renders the issue of illegality or lack of “due process” invalid or ineffective and unjustifiable for the delay on coronation of the “Gung Zaar select”.

“The current administration met the Gung Zaar select in office, and it will be morally unfair to dismantle his office because even with the colonial administration that met several of such traditional rulers on board when they first arrived, there is no traceable evidence that they dismantle the system.

“Therefore, the government should not be misled into reversing a peaceful process collectively endorsed by the generality of the Sayawa people of Bogoro and Tafawa-Balewa local government areas of the state.

“It is a common saying that “once beaten, twice shy”. On this ground, I wish to suggest that we as Sayawas henceforth desist from churning reckless statements to the public and respect the selection process that brough Air Commodore Ishaku Komo (rtd) as “Gung Zaae select”.

“The process was in accordance with the Sayawa tradition and should be respected as such. However, I advise that any aggrieved person or group against the process can go to court instead of grandstanding against the people while hiding under the shadows of government”

“The Sayawas are never a rebellious ethnic group, and no one should give them that bad name by asserting that the choice of Gung zaar select did not follow due process. If the Sayawas are rebellious as they insinuate to the public, they wouldn’t have stayed calm and maintain the peace when successive administrations in the state refused to create the Sayawa Chiefdom as recommended by the white paper on Justice Babalakin Commission of Inquiry in 1992. I dont understand why a legitimate call on the government by the Sayawas to coronate the “Gung Zaar select” should be considered an act of disobedience to the state traditional laws”

“Lastly, it is no longer in doubt that the Sayawa chiefdom was created in 2011, and has become an entity. To this effect, one may ask if it is “due process”, that a Committee on creation of Sayawa chiefdom was set up again by the Gov Bala Mohammed administration. Further more, that some chiefs under the Sayawa Chiefdom who ere appointed under the Bauchi emirate system are still being recognized by government while the “Gung Zaar select” and those hamlet chiefs that are products of the newly created Sayawa chiefdon are being denied their functions is a double standard that should not be over looked.

“If there is an ongoing amendment to the law that created the Sayawa chiefdom in 2011, on which law are the other chiefs under the Bauchi emirate now operating? Can there be an amendment without consulting the people through public hearing? Who among the Sayawas is the spokesperson for the government that the Sayawas should listen and trust? I thought Sayawa land is above this deception, as it prides itself of having members with sound intellectual capacity” it stated.