Only peace can earn us greatness –Alhaji Idris Yaro, Seriki Hausawa

Peace they say is the greatest ingredient for growth or advancement, thus the absence of it could spell doom and unprecedented regression. Alhaji Aminu Idris Yaro is the Seriki Hausawa of Lagos, in his royal chat with True Nigerians TV crew, he speaks on the need for greater unity amongst all ethnic groups within the country. Excerpts.

In your own definition, who is a true Nigerian?
I will say that a true Nigerian is somebody in any part of the world, more so a Nigerian or otherwise that feels and thinks Nigeria in the context of one thing: the very best in progress, stability and peace of the country. That is who I would call a true Nigerian.
What does peace mean to you and how can we achieve peace and stability in Nigeria?
The definition of peace for me is love, selflessness and acceptance of each other. What those it mean to me? It is something that I am willing to do everything humanly possible to have because it is something that brings about sanity across the world. So, peace is like the oxygen that we take and once it is contaminated a living being has a problem. Peace is of great high premium to a point that there is no value to peace, other than peace itself. Peace is priceless and that is how I view peace. I which that there are other adjectives I could use to qualify peace. Above all, peace is love, understanding and caring and it is something that you can continuously continue to open. That is how I view peace.
How then can we achieve peace and stability in Nigeria?
I have already answered it from the very first beginning. The first thing I said to you was love and then I told you that it conquers all. I also said that as a human being, we have to be selfless and not selfish. Once you are selfless, it means that you are willing to concede and once you are willing to concede, it brings about love and love will bring about that sanity, which will in turn bring about the understanding, which ends up in peace.
How where you able to gain the respect you enjoy amongst your people and beyond?
What you need to look at fundamentally is that there is a clear-cut difference between a leader and a ruler. By virtue of my upbringing, I was brought up and taught to be a leader, meaning that before you demand reciprocation you need to give it out first. If you respect your fellow human being, you will get respect in return. Make people understand that you are there for them all the time. You must be the last to eat, while they must come first and in everything you do, you must put them in total consideration. When you follow these principles, you will definitely find yourself enjoying an unreserved love of your people.
There is a sharp difference between somebody fearing you and respecting you. My people respect me, they do not fear me because I am not a boss and I am not a ruler. I give you a typical example. In a plane, you have the captain, the first officer, the engineers, other members of the crew and the travellers. In the event of an emergency, the captain is expected to be the last to leave.
Same for me; I do not see myself as superior to them, but of service to them. A lot of my people cannot come up to the level I am, so I have to come down to their various levels to meet with them in other to understand their needs and wants so that I can be their spokesperson and try the best that I can for them.
How did you become the Seriki Hausawa of Lagos. Was it by vote or hereditary?
I come from a family of a couple of brothers and sisters as well. I have elder brothers and sisters too. How did I become the Seriki Hausawa? In the final analysis, it is providence. That is God. If I have to break it down, I will remind you that my late father was a subject of the Oba of Lagos.
When he passed on, Kabiyesi (Oba of Lagos) was informed, and in the process of the condolences, a father of mine, my own Emir of Kano, was out of the country when my father died, but when he returned he sent his Turaki Kano to come and condole with the Oba of Lagos, because the Seriki Hausawas of Lagos is a subject of the Oba of Lagos, who is the paramount royal father.
He sent a condolence letter to the Oba of Lagos and in the second paragraph of his letter, he asked His Royal Majesty, the Oba of Lagos, if he will consider my person as the next Seriki Hausawas of Lagos. The title was given to me by God, but the instrument God used was our Kabiyesi, the Oba of Lagos. That was how I became the Seriki Hausawa of Lagos.
Before your coronation as the Seriki Hausawa of Lagos, what where you doing?
I was into business. General merchandise and trading were my lines of business and I was based in Abuja. I only moved to Lagos when my father died and I was made the Seriki Hausawa.
Was your choice and recommendation as a result of your antecedence? 
I had already anticipated this question, so I had earlier answered it. What I said to you before was providence. I will give you a typical example. In your family, I am sure that you have brothers and sisters and even in your community you have relatives that are directly related to you by blood, but for no cause of yours, God decided that out of the rest of your family, to elevate you instead of any other person.
In this practical case, I do not think that He has to consult you or your father, mother or any other person. How did I become the Seriki Hausawa of Lagos? I will say that it is by the special grace of God. I do not even think that it was because of any particular thing that I did or so. “For He wanted, all He says is, be and it is.” That is how it is.