The Death Of Agom Adara III And Dissolution Of The Chiefdom: A Cry For Justice (Pt 2)

December 8, 2018 Greg Abolo

The Oasis Reporters

December 8, 2018

Democracy is a government of the people and for the people. This literally means that democracy cannot be practiced without the input of the people. For it is the people that constitute a government and also elect the leaders. Therefore, it behoves the leaders to listen to the appeals of those whose franchise ensured their emergence as leaders.

The imposition of an Executive Order that does not protect the interest of the people in a democratic government is an aberration and the denigration of ideals, principles and creeds on which democracy thrives.
Worse still, an existing State House of Assembly is keeping mum at a time their authority is undermined and put to test (Is separation of powers truly a myth?).

I wrote a piece some time ago where I passionately appealed to the democratically elected Governor of Kaduna state to retract an Executive Order that seeks to balkanize the Adara chiefdom and disenfranchise her people. The Executive Order is contained in a gazette issued to the Adara chiefdom dated 16th August, 2018. The order is not only undemocratic but inhumane because it seeks to drive a viable Chiefdom and its people into extinction.
God forbid!
And if God must surely forbid, then the needful must be adhered to.

The United Nations act empowers every ethnic group with rights and privileges that are clearly spelt out in the United Nations Charter (constitution). Kaduna state, like many other states in Nigeria is not just a partner but a beneficiary of the benevolence of the United Nations and other international donor agencies. These bodies doles out funds every now and then to states because they have agreed and sworn to protect the rights and interests of all people of all ethnic and religious groups of the Nigerian state.

With this in mind, it is disappointing and appalling to say the least that the Kaduna state government is yet to repeal the Executive Order that seeks to destroy the identity, culture and heritage of the Adara people. In the first place, a people cannot be given a chiefdom except if they request for it. This, the people of Adara did and were graciously given with full rights to its name, structure and nomenclature by the Kaduna state government in 2000. In turn, this improved grassroot participation in governance and improved the livelihoods of the rank and file of the Adara community.
The events unfolded, and in the years, 2002 and 2007, we witnessed peaceful transitions following the deaths of Agom Adara I and II respectively.

But in 2018, following the gruesome murder of Agom Adara III, the transition appears to be shrouded in a limbo and quagmire because the government ls refusing to keep to its own bargain to uphold justice and ensure that based on its membership/agreement with the United Nations, every ethnic group enjoys freedom and rights bestowed by the Creator.
Why is there a sudden dissolution of Adara chiefdom and the creation of an emirate in Kajuru?
The heroes of Adaraland including the late Agom Adara III, Dr Maiwada Galadima struggled for our chiefdom right from her early beginnings as a 3rd class unit until it earned the first class status. They laboured sacrificially with their lives just to give Adaraland its true identity. Even the Nigerian anthem, our symbol of national UNITY, says ‘The labour of our heroes past shall never be in vain’. The Adara people remain resolute in their demand for justice and cannot accept the balkanization of her tradition and identity.
Peaceful transition of Adara chiefdom that respects the right and privileges of our people is all we ask for. Peace is all we crave for. Peace is all we desire in Kaduna state, Nigeria and the World at large.

This can only be achieved when we live and let live and shun acts that disenfranchise the people we have sworn to protect and govern. JUSTICE DELAYED IS JUSTICE DENIED.

I want to conclude this piece with the words of John F Kennedy of blessed memory, ‘If a free society cannot protect and help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich’.