VP Kashim Shettima
Vice President Kashim Shettima has said Nigeria’s path to lasting peace and development depends on leaders who place justice, unity and public welfare above personal power.
He specifically described the 16th Emir of Lafia, Justice Sidi Bage Muhammad I, as a model of the type of leadership Nigeria needs in every region.
Senator Shettima stated this on Monday in Lafia, Nasarawa State, during the 70th Birthday and Valedictory Celebration of the royal father, describing him as a rare national figure whose life has been defined by integrity, scholarship, justice and service.
The Vice President who was on a one-day working visit to the state had a road, Kashim Shettima Road, and a hall named after him.
He said the Emir’s journey from the legal profession to the traditional institution offers Nigeria an important lesson on the value of disciplined, principled and people-centred leadership.
According to him, Justice Sidi Bage had made his mark in the nation’s judicial system long before ascending the throne of his forefathers, noting that his service at the Supreme Court of Nigeria placed him among jurists entrusted with interpreting the foundations of the Republic.
“Long before the people of Lafia welcomed him to the throne of their ancestors, this remarkable son of the soil had already inscribed his name into the records of our national life.
“From the lecture halls of Ahmadu Bello University to the corridors of the Nigerian legal profession, he built a reputation upon the bedrock of integrity, scholarship, and an uncompromising fidelity to justice,” he was quoted as saying in a statement by his spokesman, Stanley Nkwocha.
Senator Shettima said the Emir did not abandon the discipline of the bench when he became a traditional ruler, but brought the same clarity, fairness and steadiness of character to the service of his people.
“When he ascended the throne of his forefathers, he did not abandon the discipline of the bench. He brought it with him, and the people of Lafia have been the better for it,” he said.
VP Shettima also praised the Emir’s role as Chairman of the Nasarawa State Council of Chiefs, saying his leadership has helped strengthen harmony in a state marked by diversity of languages, faiths and traditions.
He said the Emir had championed culture, supported religious institutions, protected local heritage and promoted peaceful coexistence, thereby proving that traditional institutions remain critical to national unity.
“He has shown that traditional authority, when exercised with wisdom, remains among the most powerful instruments of national cohesion that we possess,” the Vice President said.
Speaking further, the VP noted that Nigeria’s future would be stronger if every region and community had leaders who choose peace over provocation and service over personal gain.
His words: “I have come to believe, after years of reflection upon the condition of our country, that Nigeria will rise to the fullness of her promise on the day when every region, every state, and every community is blessed with leadership of this calibre.
“Where there are leaders who heal rather than divide, who build rather than burn, and who serve rather than seize, the greatness of this nation ceases to be an aspiration and becomes a destiny we author with our own hands.”
The Vice President also commended the Governor of Nasarawa State, Engr Abdullahi Sule, for what he described as the creation of an environment of stability, tolerance and development across the state.
He added that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration, through the Renewed Hope Agenda, recognises the importance of collaboration between traditional rulers and elected authorities in building national renewal.
VP Shettima said the Emir’s life and reign represent the kind of moral authority and stabilising leadership required to hold diverse communities together.
“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu @officialABAT, GCFR, under whose Renewed Hope Agenda this administration labours, recognises that the partnership between traditional institutions and elected authority is among the surest foundations upon which national renewal can be built,” he said.
On his part, Nasarawa State Governor, Engr Abdullahi Sule, described the Emir of Lafia as a person who shows humility and contentment at all times, just s he wished the royal father more fruitful years on the throne of his ancestors.
Similarly, Borno State Governor Babagana Zulum commended the vision of the organizers of the 70th birthday celebration for the royal father.
Governor Zulum, on behalf of the government and people of Borno State, wished the Emir long life, prosperity and good health, praying he continues to serve his people with a sond mind.
Earlier, the Emir of Lafia, HRH Justice Muhammad I, explained why the hall was built and named after the Vice President, saying it was due to the historical ties between the Borno and Lafia Emirates.
He said the emirate in Lafia has links to the Borno Empire, and that there is the need to sustain the relationship.
Going down memory lane, the royal father recalled that at the age of eight, his father, the then Emir of Lafia, took him to a function, where the late Sir Ibrahim Kashim from Borno shook hands with him even at that tender age, an experience he said he will forever cherish.
Earlier on arrival in Lafia, the Vice President commissioned the Maimatasa-Gemeri-Federal University road located in Lafia, the Nasarawa State capital.
Speaking on the road located directly opposite the gate of the Federal University, which covers a length of five kilometers, Governor Sule said the road was constructed to help address insecurity and also boost economic activities in the area.
He said the students of the Federal University, Lafia, will be the greatest beneficiaries of the new road.
The Vice President also commissioned another five kilometers road known as Kashim Shettima Road, saying the project which leads to the Emir’s palace, will further expand the area as well as boost economic activities.
Other dignitaries who graced the Emir’s birthday bash included the Deputy Governor of Nasarawa State, Dr Emmanuel Akabe; his Bauchi State counterpart, Mohammed Auwal Jatau; All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in the state, Senator Ahmed Wadada; traditional rulers, and top government officials.
