The Emir of Zazzau Ahmed Bamalli
Emir of Zazzau, Ahmad Bamalli has broken silence over the Zazzau Emirate crisis, saying the former Wazirin Zazzau, Ibrahim Muhammad-Aminu, absconded from duty seven months to the termination of his appointment.
The royal father made this known during a courtesy visit by Bashir Rabe-Mani Kaduna Zonal Manager, News Agency of Nigeria and Yusuf Jidda Kaduna Regional Manager, Media Trust Group in Zaria.
Mr Bamalli said the former Wazirin Zazzau had absconded for seven months before being officially sacked by the state government
He said the council constituted a delegation comprising its members under the leadership of Nuhu Aliyu-Magaji Galadiman Zazzau, to meet Muhammad-Aminu over his absence.
He added that the former waziri intimated the delegation that he would come back to his duties, unfortunately he did not return to the office.
“After some time, I sent the team again to meet the ex-waziri over his persistent absence but there was no response from him.
“I have no option than to formally write to the state government over the matter, subsequently his appointment was terminated. Unfortunately, a different thing has been portrayed from a section of the media; some of them went to the extent of showing that the ex-waziri was victimised or witch-hunted,’’ Mr Bamalli said.
He, however, said that despite the anomalies in the process of selecting the new Emir of Zazzau, Mr Bamalli said he remained very pleased with the kingmakers even though none of them voted for him.
The emir said he expected some people, especially the media to dig deep and find out the 2020 process of selecting the emir of zazzau.
According to him, the process took place at the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria, the then Secretary to the State Government, Kaduna State, now the Minister of Environment Balarabe Abbas.
The emir stated that the then commissioner of police and Director of SSS were also observers of the process.
“While at ABU in the waiting for the kingmakers, the ex-waziri approached the SSG with the list of three people as nominees for the throne of the emir of Zazzau. But the then SSG told the former waziri that they were observers from the state government with a view to ensuring that due process and transparency were followed in electing the new emir
“The former SSG further enquired from the former waziri on how they arrived at the three names and scores on each candidate, but no tangible explanation was offered by the former Waziri,’’ the emir said.
Mr Bamalli said that the kingmakers rated Bashir Aminu (Iyan Zazzau) as scoring 89 and Munir Jafaru, (Yariman Zazzau), as second with 87 marks.
He added that he was rated third having scored 62 on the ground that he didn’t have a national honour and district headship while Aminu Shehu Idris (Turakin Zazzau) scored 53.
“As at that time, I was a serving Ambassador in Thailand and Myanmar, is there any national honour other than being a President of your country in another country? I was a former Magajin Garin Zazzau for 19 years,’’ the emir said.
The royal father queried that national honour was not part of the criteria for appointing the emir and district headship; saying,” on these the kingmakers scored me zero.
The emir noted, “But to my dismay, the kingmakers excluded my name and submitted the names of the late Bashir Aminu, Munir Jafaru and Alhaji Aminu Shehu-Idris who was number four on the list. Remember from the outset, my application was flung by the former waziri. He also refused to collect the application of my nephew, Bunun Zazzau, District Head of Kaduna and the applications of a few other applicants. This is what they did, and the records are there for anybody to verify.”
Mr Muhammad-Aminu petitioned the Kaduna State House of Assembly, seeking the reversal of the appointment of Ahmad Bamalli as the 19th Emir of Zazzau.
The deposed waziri made the petition after losing the legal battle at the Kaduna State High Court and the Court of Appeal, Kaduna Division.
