A bill meant to honour Nigeria’s traditional rulers has instead set off one of the fiercest cultural and political storms in years.
The Senate’s plan for a National Council of Traditional Rulers seemed harmless—until a clause surfaced granting the Ooni of Ife and the Sultan of Sokoto permanent co-chair status. For critics, that’s not honour but hierarchy.
Ohanaeze Ndigbo calls it “ethnocentric and unjust.” The Middle Belt Forum says it distorts history—reminding lawmakers that some of their kingdoms thrived centuries before the Sokoto Caliphate. From the Benin court to the Shehu of Borno’s palace, from Tivland to Kano, the message is the same: no single throne speaks for all.
The opposition is united on one demand—rotate the leadership, reflect Nigeria’s full ethnic and historical tapestry, or risk turning a council meant for unity into a monument to division.