In an unprecedented move in Katsina State, three district heads have declared interest in seeking elections to the National Assembly in 2027.
The district heads are the immediate former minister of aviation, Hadi Sirika; Yusuf Buhari, son of the immediate former president, the late Muhammadu Buhari; and Daha Umar-Faruk, the son of the emir of Daura.
All three will contest under the All Progressives Congress, APC, Premium Times reports.
The former aviation minister is the district head of Sirika and holds the traditional title of Marusan Katsina. He is seeking a Senate seat. Mr Buhari is the district head of Kwasarawa and the Talban Daura, while Mr Daha is the district head of Baure and holds the title of Danburam Daura. Messrs Buhari and Daha seek to be members of the House of Representatives.
Siriika has not been turbaned as his appointment was only recently announced.
Katsina State has two emirs: Abdulmuninu Kabir (Katsina Emirate) and Umar Faruk-Umar (Daura Emirate). The emirs are the highest-ranking traditional officials in the state. Next in the hierarchy are the district heads.
The Katsina Emirate Law, as amended in 2025, does not disallow district, village of ward heads from seeking political offices. District heads, especially those who don’t live in their domains, have a representative (Wakili) who manages the district’s affairs on their behalf.
The political ambitions of the three district heads have continued to generate reactions from political observers and historians in the state as jostling for political parties’ tickets continues.
For Kabir Yandaki, a political scientist at the Ummaru Musa Yar’adu’a University in Katsina, top traditional rulers seeking political offices demean the traditional institutions.
“They can contest on a constitutional basis because no one stops them from doing so. But it’s a symptom of the kind of degeneration or relegating the integrity of traditional institutions because of the nature of how politics is played in the country.
“Economic factors and the need for influence could lure them to join politics. But still, it’s not a good development on the part of the traditional institutions,” Mr Yandaki, a senior lecturer at the university, noted.
For Baba Bala-Katsina, a cultural historian, the development may lead to complete politicisation of traditional institutions in Katsina, as seen in other northern states, especially Kano and Adamawa.
