Quite unfortunate, the falcons no longer hear the falconers and the place of Ilorin heritage is being eroded as the moral ethos of those who are saddled with the core responsibility of upholding it fails integrity test as actions and inactions of the IEDPU and the Durbar Committee continue to align with the political chicanery of the state government, while creating an obvious distance from the traditional stool that naturally houses cultural associations like IEDPU, under which Durbar Committee exists. The sacred nature of the Alimi stool as occupied by our revered Emir of Ilorin, Dr. Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari (CFR), should not be rubbished into the mud of politics.

 

Whoever advised, cajoled or coerced Engr. Suleiman Yahaya Alapansanpa, the Ilorin Emirate Durbar Committee Chairman to have penned and released this disheartening statement to the general public does not love him. It’s a strategic way of tarnishing the reputable man’s image.

 

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The statement portrayed a picture of being written under duress, as a committee member confirmed to me that the released statement was a sole decision of Engr. Alapansanpa.

 

The statement is a direct indictment on the highly venerated Emir of Ilorin, as it portrayed Maimartaba a confused person; having earlier written a letter of appeal to the Kwara State

Government to allow the construction of the pavilion. The content of the unfortunate release by the Durbar Committee exposed the desperate attempt by the committee to satisfy a master; thereby compromising the collective interest of the emirate.

 

If truly the idea was discussed with different stakeholders in Ilorin, it means it was thrown open, not reserved for the governor and any capable Ilorin person or friends of the city could have constructed it.

Should it not have been a relief to the governor that a Senator from his very state had helped inserted the construction of the pavilion to the 2024 national budget? Are the discrepancies in the design as alleged irreconcilable? Why is the committee making it appear like Ilorin people are daft?

 

As a respected cultural association housing experienced individuals from all works of life, doesn’t it fall within the purview of IEDPU core responsibilities to wage in to the crisis between the governor and Senator Saliu Mustapha in the inerest of the Emirate?

Apart from the pavilion project, why is IEDPU pretending not to know that the governor is hellbent at preventing the senator’s many other constituency projects within his constituency from being executed? If the execution of these projects are prevented and fund returned to the cover of the FG, of what benefit is this to the Emirate?

 

The entire Ilorin community should be concerned about how and why IEDPU is gradually drifting into becoming an arm of the ruling political party. This was how the same association glorified the Sarakis while the family held sway as the ruling house in the state. Let it be emphasized that the association was established to serve as watchdog to the state government while protecting the collective interest and values of the Emirate.

 

Ilorin Emirate remains the collective project of all and selective interests of few should not be allowed to jeopardise larger ones. While the current political office holders will go like their predecessors, the Ilorin Emirate is immortal. We should therefore thread softly, as posterity is watching us all.

 

Ismail Abdullahi, a concerned Indigen, writes from Kuntu, Adewole, Ilorin.