Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has called for the reforms that will recognise, protect traditional institutions and assign roles to monarchs in the government.

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the 2023 general elections made the suggestion in a press statement on Tuesday.

Mr Abubakar was reacting to the deposition of monarchs by state governments and bemoaned their exertion of influence “in distorting the modalities of enthroning traditional stools.”

His comment came amid the crisis in Kano State among Lamido Sanusi, the Abba Yusuf administration and some unidentified federal forces, as alleged by the Sokoto State Government to oust the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar.

He stated, “That the institutions of traditional rulership are in the exclusive purview of the state government, although through the local government authorities, it must be established that traditional institutions constitute a component of our governance structure.”

Advocating that “traditional institutions must be protected from the arbitrariness of state governments that threaten their stability,” he warned that “when the structure of ascension of traditional rulers is unstable, it will become equally difficult to maintain peace and orderliness in communities.”

He stated, “Although our constitution, in its current format, does not ascribe any recognition to traditional institutions, yet our experiences show clearly that they perform enormous roles in the economic life of their domains, as well as maintenance of peace and security in communities.’’

Mr Abubakar noted that “traditional institutions formed the governance structures before the advent of the colonialists. And they governed well. Consequently, they are institutions we must protect and preserve and not destroy. It is, therefore, on this basis that I lean towards the advocacy that calls for constitutional reform that will not just recognise traditional institutions in our body of laws but also define the responsibilities of their offices.’’

Stating that the reform was imperative “in view of the collective drive to stem the ugly tide of terrorism and sundry security challenges at the local levels,” Mr Abubakar appealed to state governors “to accord the necessary respect to the offices of traditional institutions,” stating that, “the customs that our traditional rulers represent is the totality of our heritage as a people.”