Traditional title withdrawal: Ex-minister drags Bauchi govt to court

A former Minister of Special Duties, Alhaji Bello Kirfi, has dragged the Bauchi State government to court to challenge his removal from office as a Senior Councillor in the Bauchi Emirate Council.

The PUNCH had reported that Kirfi, a retired federal civil servant, minister in the government of Alhaji Shehu Shagari in the 1980s and Minister of Special Duties during the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo in the 2000s, was stripped of his traditional title as “Wazirin Bauchi” and removed from being a council member for the second time in five years, by the Bauchi Emirate Council for alleged “disloyalty and disrespect” to the State Governor, Bala Mohammed.

The Nonagenarian’s removal was conveyed in a letter addressed to him by the Secretary of the Bauchi Emirate Council, Alh. Shehu Mudi Muhammad, dated January 3rd, 2023 with reference No: BEC/ADM/20/VOL.XV and titled: “Removal from office as a Council Member and Traditional Title of Wazirin Bauchi.”

Muhammad stated in his letter that the Ministry for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs informed the Emirate Council of Kirfi’s “disloyalty and disrespect” to the governor, hence his removal from office.

He said: “I am directed to refer to a letter received from the Ministry of Local Government Affairs of reference No: MLG/LG/S/72/T dated 30th December, 2022. The content of the said letter indicated your disloyalty and disrespect to the Executive Governor of the State and the government. It therefore directed for your removal with immediate effect.

“In view of the above, you are hereby removed from office as Wazirin Bauchi and also as a Council Member of Bauchi Emirate.”

But in a terse statement signed by his son and official spokesperson, Yakubu Kirfi, and made available to journalists on Wednesday, the former minister said that he had gone to court to challenge his removal. Punch