WHEN BUHARI COMES VISITING BENUE, HE SHOULD RESPECT OUR ROYAL FATHERS TOO

By Bemgba Iortyom

Traditional rulers in Nigeria do not have executive powers and in a real sense are under the authority of political power holders, yet they, as a norm, enjoy a great deal of respect from the same institutions of power they are under.

They are accorded paramount status which though largely ceremonial is still embellished with a lot of paraphernalia and deference.

This of course is traceable to our Africanness, as such it is customary to see the holder of the highest political office in the country, the President, treating traditional rulers with utmost respect, such as bringing himself into their presence when he is in their domain.

In greeting a paramount traditional ruler it is even the expected norm that the President bow before the royal father who receives him in seated position.

Today President Muhammadu Buhari was in Plateau State on a state visit and he went to pay homage on the Gbom Gwom Jos at the Monarch's palace.

We expect no less a measure of respect to the paramount rulers in Benue State from the President when he eventually comes calling on his much publicised visit to the state.

The two paramount traditional rulers in the state, the Tor Tiv and the Och'Idoma, are no less in status than the Gbom Gwom Jos or any other Monarch in the country.

Should for reasons of constraint on the itinerary of the President he is unable to pay homage on those two monarchs in their respective palaces which are situated outside of the state capital city where he will be visiting, it should not be an alternative to drag the royal fathers to come and receive him in Makurdi.

Since it is not the requirement for the Sultan or any of the Emirs or the Obas to go out of their palaces to receive the President anywhere, it should likewise apply to our royal fathers that their integrity be not sullied by their being dragged, under whatever guise, to go kow-towing to the visitor in the name of receiving him.

The culture and tradition of the people of Benue State deserve equal measure of esteem from Mr. President as he accord to others elsewhere in Nigeria.

Bemgba Iortyom Observes As A Concerned Benue Citizen.