• Says traditional institutions vital to national cohesion
•Describes Lafia Emir’s leadership as exemplary, inaugurates projects in Nasarawa
Deji Elumoye in Abuja
Vice President Kashim Shettima, yesterday, declared that Nigeria’s path to lasting peace and development depended on leaders, who placed justice, unity, and public welfare above personal power. Shettima stated this in Lafia, the Nasarawa State capital, during the 70th Birthday and Valedictory Celebration of the 16th Emir of Lafia, Justice Sidi Bage Muhammad I.
The vice president stated that Nigeria’s future would be stronger if every region and community had leaders who chose peace over provocation and service over personal gain.
He said, “I have come to believe, after years of reflection upon the condition of our country, that Nigeria will rise to the fullness of her promise on the day every region, every state, and every community is blessed with leadership of this calibre.
“Where there are leaders, who heal rather than divide, who build rather than burn, and who serve rather than seize, the greatness of this nation ceases to be an aspiration and becomes a destiny we author with our own hands.”
He described the royal father as a rare national figure whose life had been defined by integrity, scholarship, justice, and service.
Shettima described the emir as a model of the type of leadership Nigeria needed in every region.
The vice president, who was on a one-day working visit to the state, had a road, Kashim Shettima Road, and a hall named after him.
He said the emir’s journey from the legal profession to the traditional institution offered Nigeria an important lesson on the value of disciplined, principled and people-centred leadership.
He stated, “Justice Bage had made his mark in the nation’s judicial system long before ascending the throne of his forefathers. His service at the Supreme Court of Nigeria placed him among jurists entrusted with interpreting the foundations of the republic.
“Long before the people of Lafia welcomed him to the throne of their ancestors, this remarkable son of the soil had already inscribed his name into the records of our national life.
“From the lecture halls of Ahmadu Bello University to the corridors of the Nigerian legal profession, he built a reputation upon the bedrock of integrity, scholarship, and an uncompromising fidelity to justice.”
Shettima said the emir did not abandon the discipline of the bench when he became a traditional ruler, but brought the same clarity, fairness and steadiness of character to the service of his people.
“When he ascended the throne of his forefathers, he did not abandon the discipline of the bench. He brought it with him, and the people of Lafia have been the better for it,” he said.
The vice president also praised Muhammad’s role as Chairman of Nasarawa State Council of Chiefs, saying his leadership has helped strengthen harmony in a state marked by diversity of languages, faiths, and traditions.
He said the emir had championed culture, supported religious institutions, protected local heritage and promoted peaceful coexistence, thereby proving that traditional institutions remain critical to national unity.
“He has shown that traditional authority, when exercised with wisdom, remains among the most powerful instruments of national cohesion that we possess,” the vice president said.
Shettima commended the governor of Nasarawa State, Abdullahi Sule, for creating an environment of stability, tolerance, and development across the state.
He added that the President Bola Tinubu administration, through the Renewed Hope Agenda, recognised the importance of collaboration between traditional rulers and elected authorities in building national renewal.
According to him, the emir’s life and reign represent the kind of moral authority and stabilising leadership required to hold diverse communities together.
Shettima stated, “President Bola Tinubu under whose Renewed Hope Agenda this administration labours, recognises that the partnership between traditional institutions and elected authority is among the surest foundations upon which national renewal can be built.”
Sule described the Emir of Lafia as a person who showed humility and contentment at all times, and wished the royal father more fruitful years on the throne of his ancestors.
Borno State Governor, Professor Babagana Zulum, commended the vision of the organisers of the 70th birthday celebration for the royal father.
Zulum, on behalf of the government and people of Borno State, wished the emir long life, prosperity and good health, praying that he continues to serve his people with a sound mind.
Earlier, Muhammad explained why the hall was built and named after the vice president. He said it was due to the historical ties between the Borno and Lafia emirates.
According to him, the emirate in Lafia has links to the Borno Empire, and there is a need to sustain the relationship.
Going down memory lane, the monarch recalled that at eight years old, his father, the then Emir of Lafia, took him to a function, where the late Sir Ibrahim Kashim from Borno shook hands with him even at that tender age, an experience he said he would forever cherish.
Meanwhile, upon his arrival in Lafia, the vice president inaugurated the Maimatasa-Gemeri-Federal University road in Lafia.
Speaking on the road directly opposite the gate of the federal university, which covers a length of five kilometres, Sule said the road was constructed to help address insecurity and also boost economic activities in the area.
He said the students of Federal University, Lafia, will be the greatest beneficiaries of the new road.
The vice president also inaugurated another five kilometres road, named Kashim Shettima Road, saying the project leading to the emir’s palace, would further expand the area as well as boost economic activities.
