Balkanisation Of The Caliphate: Political Vendetta Carried Too Far (Part 1) By Mike Ozekhome SAN

INTRODUCTION

It is no longer news that Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano
state has balkanized the 800 year old Kano Emirate to achieve
immediate short term political gains of brinkmanship and
isolationism. Mercifully, Justice Nasiru Sani wielded big judicial
hammer to void the appointment and installation of four new Emirs,
ordering a return to the status quo pending the hearing of the
substantive suit challenging the appointment of the Emirs. What
political hubris will make a governor so powerdrunk as to tamper
and literally decapitate history, totems and traditions? Will he be
there forever? Did Ganduje ever imagine he was fighting Emir
Sanusi? Did it not occur to him his act was self immolatory,
asihine, infantile and nonsensical?

 HISTORICAL
BACKGROUND

It was chronicled that the Hausa Kingdom of Kano extraction of
the present day Kano state of Nigeria was based on an ancient
settlement of Dala Hill. There were fractions of chiefdoms in the
pre-colonial era before the incursion of Fulani Jihad and British
colonialism. History has it that Bagauda, a
grandson of the mythical hero, Bayajidda^[1], became the
first king of Kano in 999, reigning until 1063. Muhammad
Rumfa^[2] ascended to the
throne in 1463 and reigned until 1499. During his reign, he
reformed Kano city, expanded the Sahelian Gidan Rumfa^[3][4] (Emir’s
Palace), and played a lead role in the further
Islamization of the city as he compelled prominent residents to
convert to Islam. The Hausa state remained independent until the
Fulani conquest of 1805.

At the beginning of the 19th century, however, Fulani^[5]
Islamic leader, Usman Dan Fodio^[6], led a jihad^[7]
affecting much of Northern Nigeria, leading to the emergence of the
Sokoto Caliphate^[8]. Kano became the largest
and most prosperous province of the Empire. It was one of the last
major slave societies. Heinrich Barth^[9], a classical
scholar who spent several years in Northern Nigeria in the 1850s,
estimated the percentage of slaves in Kano to be at least 50%, most
of whom lived in slave villages.

From 1893 until 1895, two rival claimants to the throne fought a
civil war. With the help of royal slaves, Yusufu
was victorious over Tukur and claimed the title of
“Emir”.

The British pacification campaign termed “Kano-Sokoto
Expedition” set off from Zaria at the end of
January, 1903, under the command of
Colonel Morland. British officers and N.C.O.s and
800 African rank and file were conscripted. Apart from a company of
mounted infantry and a few gunners, the whole force consisted of
infantry. They were supported, however, by four 75-mm. mountain
guns, which could, if necessary, be dismantled and transported by
porters, and by six machine guns. Have we really improved on this
military technology today?

After sporadic fighting outside the walls of the fort, the
British managed to penetrate the defensive parameters of the
capital. Kano was mostly left defenseless, at a time that the Emir,
Aliyu Babba^[10] was away with
his large contingent Cavalry for the Autumn Campaign in Sokoto^[11]. News of the British capture of
Kano^[12] in February, 1903, sent
the Cavalry in a long march to retake the city.

After successfully defeating the British in three encounters, on
27^th February, 1903, the Grand
Vizier of Kano, Ahmadu Mai Shahada and
much of the Kano Cavalry, were ambushed at Katarkwashi^[13]. The death of
the Vizier and subsequent capture and exile to Lokoja^[14] of the 7th
Emir of Kano; Aliyu Babba^[15], spelled the
formative end of the Kano Emirate. The British made Kano an
important administrative centre and kept most of the Emirate’s
institutions in the form of the Kano Emirate
Council^[16], subject to the British
crown in a newly formed state called Northern Nigeria^[17].

ROLES OF THE EMIR

The Kano Emirate is a traditional state^[18] in
Northern Nigeria^[19], with
headquarters in the city of Kano^[20], capital of
the modern Kano State^[21]. Preceded by
the Emirate of Kano^[22], the Council
was formed in 1903 after the British pacification of the
Sokoto Caliphate^[23].
Alhaji Ado Bayero^[24] became the
Emir of Kano in 1963, reigning for 50 years, until
his death in 2014. He oversaw the transformation of the Emirate
under Nigeria’s Federal Constitution which subjected Northern
Nigeria’s Emirates to political leaders. The Emir of Kano serves as
the leader of the Tijaniyya^[25]
Sufi^[26] Order in
Nigeria, historically the second most important Muslim position in
Nigeria, after the Sultan of Sokoto^[27] who is the
leader of the more populous Qadiriyya^[28]
Sufi^[29] Order in
Nigeria. On 8^th June, 2014, former
Nigerian Central Bank Governor, Muhammadu Sanusi
II^[30] was selected
to succeed Bayero as Emir of Kano. The Emir of Kano had assumed
Community Leadership since the Local Government Reforms had
transferred the executive powers he once exercised to the local
councils who are either elected by the people or appointed by the
Kano State Governor.

The Kano Emirate is at present the custodian of the culture,
tradition, customs and religion of the entire people of Kano state.
Many of the Mosques and Imams of the State owe their allegiance to
the Emir who directly appoints them. The Emir of Kano is one of the
foremost leaders of Hausa Muslims all over the world, who are said
to number about 100 million.

POLITICIANS AND THE TRADITIONAL INSTITUTION

Nigerian Politicians have gone for the jugular of the Nigeria
traditional institutions, threatening it with extinction. The
unwholesome activities of desperate politicians is at the base.
Traditional institutions should never be seen as appendages of
political office holders, in such a way that they only exist at the
pleasure, dictates, whims and caprices of politicians and political
office holders. Traditional rulers or Monarchs are the true
custodians of our cherished cultures and traditions. Our culture
symbolizes our identities and should therefore be held in the
highest esteem. A people without culture is like an aircraft
without a compass.

NOW THIS SANUSI’S TRIUMPHANT EMERGENCE
AS EMIR AND HIS TRAVIALS 

Following the death of Alhaji ADO BAYERO in
2014, Sanusi, a new technocrat monarch emerged and
succeeded the late Emir of Kano. A renowned Economist and the
erstwhile Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, SANUSI
LAMIDO SANUSI, who is described in many
quarters as a man of uncommon bravery and intellectual depth 
ascended the throne as the Emir of Kano. The exit of the former
governor of Kano state, RABIU MUSA KWANKWASO, led
to a negative turn of events in the Kano Emirate, as Sanusi’s
relationship with the incumbent governor, ABDULLAHI UMAR
GANDUJE, got frosty. There were rumours barely 2 years ago
that the governor had intended to dethrone the Emir outright,
before better judgment prevailed.

AND THIS CLIPPING EMIR SANUSI’S
WINGS

To clip the wings of the cerebral but loquacious monarch who
readily puts aside his turban and staff of office and draws
economic and political punches against what he considers to be the
sorry state of his northern talakawas, the initiation, passage and
governor’s assent to a bill to decimate his influence was made
faster than the speed of light. The bill which sought for the
establishment of Kano, Rano, Bichi, Karaye and
Gaya Emirates was read on the floor of the state
House of Assembly on Monday, May 6, 2019.

By Tuesday, the bill was passed into law and by
Wednesday, it was assented to by the governor. By
Thursday, the law had been gazetted. Such an
acceleration of the passage of the bill was nothing but evil
machination geared towards political vendetta against and
witch-hunt of the Emir. (To be continued).

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK

“If a race has no history, if it has no worthwhile tradition, it
becomes a negligible factor in the thought of the world, and it
stands in danger of being exterminated”. (Carter G.
Woodson).

LAST LINE 

Nigerians, thank you for keeping faith with the Sunday Sermon on
the Mount of the Nigerian Project by Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN, OFR,
FCIArb, Ph.D, LL.D, even as you await the next explosive
dissertation.

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