The traditional
The modern
It was in late December 2008 when Dr Jean Ping, the then Gabonese Chairman of African Union Commission visited Jigawa State. Decked in Babanriga that seemed to have come straight from the bottom of one Dutse Emirate traditional title holder’s wardrobe or another before being treated to a grand durbar, (horse race) the chief bureaucrat of the continental organisation could not help wondering if Africa actually experienced colonialism. He was not taking colonialism lightly. He was only marveling at how much of African culture has survived colonial warfare.
His amazement must have been the same experience for the politicians, bureaucrats, businessmen and women and, in short, the cream of the Nigerian elite who gathered in Dutse, the Jigawa State capital, December 8th, 2018 to bear witness to the turbaning of Bashir Mohammed Dalhatu as the Wazirin Dutse. It is an elevation from the Walin Dutse he held before the death of his elder brother, Air-Vice Marshal Muktar Mohammed, a former military governor.
The Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria educated lawyer, son of a Magistrate and a Minister under the General Sani Abacha regime is now expanding into the traditional authority as an extra space for service of his people. His is a further demonstration of how tradition and modernity interface in Africa rather than the binary view of their relationship in Western Sociology. Sai Wazirin Dutse!
