Maiduguri — The new Shehu of Dikwa Emirate recreated by the Borno State government recently was officially turbaned on Wednesday in Dikwa where thousands of well-wishers thronged to pay homage to the great grandson of the legendary Alamin Elkanemi.

The first class monarch, Shehu Mohammed Masta II Ibn Alamin El-Kanemi, was last week appointed by Governor Ali Sheriff as Shehu of Dikwa Emirate, which was carved out of the old Dikwa Emirate headquartered in Bama town, Borno State.

The new monarch, whose appointment had controversially stripped the former Shehu of Dikwa, Mai Kyari Elkanemi, now emir of Bama, of the Shehuship title, was turbaned by two kingmakers of the emirate, Alhaji Terab and Shettima Kanuribe, in a carefully performed ritual that began with wearing of royal cloak to wearing of turban, amid prayers by Imams.

State Governor, Ali Modu Sheriff, who was represented by his deputy, Adamu Dibal, supervised the traditional induction and implored the people of three local government areas now under the Dikwa Emirate to support the new emir, whom he described as an illustrious and legitimate grandson of Shehu Alamin Elkanemi.

The governor, who had earlier said in Maiduguri that against the public outcry that Dikwa Emirate was carved out of the old Dikwa to slight the former Shehu of Dikwa, now an ordinary Emir, reiterated that he did not create Dikwa Emirate to sit in Dikwa but "what we succeeded in doing was creating an emirate for the people of Bama".

The governor enjoined people of the state that by the powers conferred on him by the state's new local government and chieftaincy law, he will be ready to create more emirates wherever it is desired even as he said all demands for emirates in the state will be weighed carefully to ascertain its "viability, historical antecedence, and the thinking of the people."

The highpoint of Shehu Masta II's coronation was mounting of royal horse and flamboyant musical entertainment.