Bade Emirate organizes durbar in Yobe.

By: Yahaya Wakili

In a remarkable display of cultural heritage, the Bade emirate council in Yobe state has organized a colorful durbar competition to celebrate the Eid-el-Fitr Sallah fast. The durbar held at Mai Bade Palace at Gashua was a momentous event that underscored the significance of unity, bringing people together, strengthening communal ties, and celebrating the rich cultural heritage of Bade. The durbar also reinforced the unity and traditions of the people of Bade and featured an array of cultural heritage performances.

Alhaji Alkali Sale Bukar Sakan, Sharakun Bade, the deputy chairman of the Bade Emirate Durbar Committee, said since we are young, they are preparing the durbar during the Eid-el-Fitr and Eid-el-Kabir sallah, and during then our parents are performing many things, and this horse racing our parents are doing it. Therefore, we see that we revive this, our cultural heritage, and anything that has been done yesterday, today, and even tomorrow is continuous, and since we are in Borno State, that time NTA is carrying the traditional activities; people of Bade are dancing with swords, blue dresses, and red caps. Now, we didn’t introduce them, but we have the intention to bring the full team of the tradition we have.

“The time of modernization comes with its style. Other youth have an interest in their cultural heritage, while others, because of the Western education they receive, abandon their culture, but we are reviving our culture, and we hope our children and our grandchildren will emulate what we will leave behind, what our parents left to us, while the new modernization is trying to destabilize us. He said a few years back when Boko Haram came, it stopped this cultural heritage and other cultural activities, but now, Alhamdulillah, peace has been restored because if you enter Gashua now, you will know that peace has been restored in Yobe. Even from the Sallah of last year to date, it shows that there is peace; you will see everybody is enjoying it, and he is happy people are celebrating Sallah without fear or molestation.

Sharakun Bade further said, We, the Bade emirate council, are reviewing our culture because we inherited it. Other emirates didn’t inherit it, and even if they didn’t inherit it, it wouldn’t stop them from performing their culture, and every emirate has its own culture. They have their own traditional culture, and we hope they will advise their own emir to give them the opportunity because our emir gave us the chance. If the culture is not revived, one day it will disappear completely. And anything we are doing with regard to this durbar, we are doing it with government officials, and anything we are doing is open. Hon. Yau Usman Dachia, Deputy Speaker of the Yobe State House of Assembly, is here; the Executive Chairman of the Bade local government area, Hon. Ibrahim Babagana, is here; and the Chairman of the Jakusko local government, Hon. Umaru Agwa, is also there, so the presence of these honorables serves as a letter.

Alhaji Alkali Sale further revealed that the Bade emirate council is together with His Excellency, Governor Mai Mala Buni CON Chiroman Gujba. Anything Governor Buni brings us, we receive it with good faith, 100% accepted, and we thank Governor Mai Mala Buni CON because he gives us the opportunity to improve our cultural heritage. And every member of the committee donated something; some brought #10,000, some #500,000, and somebody brought #1m. All this among us, the members of the committee, and even His Royal Highness, the Royal Father, gave a donation to this committee.

Also speaking to newsmen on the history of the durbar committee, the secretary of the committee, Alhaji Sale Garba Suleiman, said this committee was inaugurated about three years ago by His Royal Highness, the Mai Bade, Alhaji Abubakar Umar Suleiman. The time HRH inaugurated this committee, he told us that he wanted them to revive and improve the Bade cultural heritage, and he also told us that he did this because our youths who are coming up to know actually their cultural heritage. We thank his royal father for creating this committee, and we, as Muslims, believe everybody comes with something for the benefit of the people; the reward will go to him. Therefore, we are appealing to other emirates in our dear state to emulate this great thing for the benefit of their people.

“I am sure everybody who saw this program will be interested to review their own culture so that their youth will grow with their own cultural heritage, and as I said, this committee is new and is young, and we are planning to improve it, and we are advising other emirates to emulate what we are doing. We are trying to reach the Yobe State Art and Cultural Board to present to them what we are doing so far, because what you are doing, if you didn’t get results on it, you have no excuse, but as for the results we have on what we are doing, we will present them and solicit advice and cooperation from them to see how we will improve this matter.

The time His Royal Highness inaugurated this committee, the first thing we told him was that we didn’t know where we would get money to carry out our assignment. He advised us to contact our people who are willing to assist and request the assistance from them either in cash or in kind, and I will not forget it, because HRH was the first person who put his donation into this account, and since then we have continued getting donations. I assure you that we did our work successfully, and we have the remaining money in our account that can be used to do our program for the next Sallah, inshallah. Therefore, we and our relatives contribute the money. And at this point, I will never forget Hon. Yau Usman Dachia, Deputy Speaker of the Yobe State House of Assembly. He is completely a son of Bade. This man, honestly, he plays a vital role in this committee; he contributes a lot. In fact, we can’t say anything to him except that we pray that Allah (SWT) reward him with Aljannatul Firdaus.

This work is for durbar, since before we were born our parents have been doing it, but to invite journalists for coverage is the first time, and this committee was inaugurated three years back. I, personally, thank Almighty Allah in his mercy for giving us the opportunity to make this burbar successful, and we are receiving the commendation from the public, and we also thank HRH, the Mai Bade, Alhaji Abubakar Umar Suleiman, for creating this committee and giving us the opportunity to serve our people. We highly appreciate it, and we thank him. May Allah (SWT) reward him and give him good health. Amen.

Bade Emirate organizes durbar in Yobe.