El-Rufai gives staff of office to new Kaduna monarch

On Thursday, the Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai presented the staff of office to the new Emir of Lere, Alhaji Suleiman Umaru, Top Naija reports.

The new emir succeeded his uncle, late Sarki Abubakar II, who died in April 2021.

The late Sarkin Lere was a retired Brigadier General and former military governor of Sokoto State. The late emir, an educationist, with his wife, established Essence International School, Kaduna.

The new emir among other contenders, a former General Manager at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, is 61 years old.

El-Rufai while speaking at the event, enjoined the new monarch to follow the footstep of his uncle who led the people of Lere with a fear of God.

The governor assured the people of Lere of his administration’s determination to soon commission the building of the Agricultural Department of the Kaduna State University in the area.

“I enjoin you to emulate the late emir, Sarki Abubakar II, and rule the people of Lere with the fear of Almighty Allah and justly,” El-Rufai said.

The new monarch, who is the 14th emir of Lere, graduated from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria in 1985 with a degree in Chemical Engineering and obtained an MBA from the same university in the year 2000.

A co-founder of the ruling All Progressives Congress, Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai was previously the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory from 2003 to 2007; and the director of the Bureau of Public Enterprises.