How my father brought Buhari, Tinubu together —Emir of Borgu

Alhaji Muhammad Sani Haliru, ‘Kitoro 1V, the 17th Emir of Borgu Kingdom, in this interview by WALE OJO-LANRE, among other issues, speaks on how his father brought President Muhammadu Buhari and a leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Bola Tinubu, together, culminating in the removal of former President Goodluck Jonathan. Excerpts:

Borgu Kingdom is the nation’s energy base. President Muhammadu Buhari and another powerful politician from the South West, Senator Bola Tinubu, as title holders, are your subjects. How will you harness these connections to enhance the progress and advancement of your emirate?

The president, General Muhammad Buhari, was a friend of my late father. The Jagaban of Borgu, Senator Bola Tinubu, was also a very close friend of my late father who shared a lot of ideas with him on the way of moving Nigeria forward and that brought about the present change. My father did all he could to bring the two giant personalities together. He did all he could to see that the Nigeria Project was successful bringing the two leaders together and that made this change possible. As traditional title holders of Borgu, I feel it’s an opportunity to make Borgu Kingdom great by using these powerful people in the interest of my people and also use them because they are my subjects and traditional title holders to see that the Nigeria Project is achievable and the project is to move Nigeria forward; to unite Nigerians and to see Nigeria as one so that the common man in this country will feel he has a country and he has somewhere to stay.

As a successful lawyer, why did you leave the flourishing legal profession to become a traditional ruler?

Well I am still a lawyer, but the only issue is that I cannot practice as a traditional ruler. I am still a lawyer by calling and by profession and I will also die a lawyer. Royalty is my birthright; as a prince, I have the blue blood running in my veins and thus there is the urge to aspire to be a king in all legitimate way. And also for every prince born, there is likelihood of him becoming an emir.

But the responsibility is enormous

You see, royalty is inborn, innate and it is in the blood. That is why they described those born into royal lineage as people with blue blood running in their veins. It is not for the fun of it; it is because of the innateness of the virtues of kingship that led to such description. So I don’t see anything heavy or too heavy to bear. You need to understand the mechanism of the rites of royalty in the emirship institution; it is organised and self regulating. As a prince, I was much close to my late father and I know the challenges facing the emir. I was the Secretary of the Emirate Council, while my father was the chairman of the council.  That gave me a lot of opportunity to know about the Emirate Council and about the tradition. My father and I had a very good knowledge of rulership and one thing which I am missing about him today is that he is not alive; the way he administered, the way he talked to his people and the patience he displayed are some of those things I missed about him. I pray that Almighty Allah will forgive him his sins and grant him aljanah. He was a great man and, through my relationship and working with him, I have been thoroughly tutored and equipped for the task of emirship.

There is this story about your father that he once fought a lion which eventually escaped to the forest for its dear life…

The fact is that my father had an encounter with a lion on Wawa Road, on his way to Kalama as a District officer. He was riding on a motorcycle and he hit the lion which was crossing the road. My father fell down with the motorcycle and the lion, instead of running into the forest, came back, watched my father jumping on his feet, had eye contact with him for a minute or thereabout and leisurely strolled into the forest, while my father stood up the motorcycle and continued with his journey. My father described it as a rare encounter.

He must have been scared to the marrow…

My father said it was an act of Allah and he said he was not scared. He told me that immediately the lion stared at him, maintaining a one-minute eye contact, Allah, the most beneficent and the merciful, assured him that all was well. We were not born to be scared by anything; a prince should not be scared by anything and, as a Muslim, we have our complete faith in Allah.

As my father had an encounter with a lion, I too had mine with a crocodile. It was a recent event. As a politician, I always went to campaign in the bush in the night. One day, I promised to attend a programme, but suddenly I was called to Minna and it was late before I was done with what I went for in Minna. But I decided to come down since I had promised that I was going to come. I proceeded to where they were waiting for me. In my eagerness to fast track the journey, the car I was driving had a fault close to where a massive crocodile was hibernating in the dark. As we were pushing the car, I stepped on the tail of this big crocodile and in an effort to avoid it, I stepped on it again. The carnivore just nodded its head as if in salutation and crawled, without any fuss, into the bush. The people around me shouted Allah Akbar! That was my own encounter.

When your name was announced as an emir there was jubilation in the whole Borgu Emirate…

It showed acceptance from my people and, for the first time in the history of the emirate, my ascension to the throne was so smooth, devoid of rancour and legal gymnastics. It showed the level by which my people accepted me. You know what happened? I have been in politics; I contested elections and I lost, but any time I contested, I was always a victim of primary manipulation. Anytime I contested election and lost, if you came to this town, you would think somebody had died and the people would be in mourning mood.

When this opportunity came and people were thinking of who will continue from where the late emir stopped, the question was, who is more qualified to take up that position? I was not too keen to contest, but people called upon me to do that; they were even worried that I was not too push full. I think I was one of those who submitted their applications late, out of the 41 princes who contested the stool. The contest went on and people thought I should be there and that if I am not there, something would have happened.

Given that Borgu supplies electricity to the country, Nigerians see the emirate as an epicentre. How would you reconcile this status with the people who are your subjects?  

Yeah, since assumption of office and ever before now, when I was aspiring to contest, I had the intention that I will have to move my kingdom forward; move it to a level that there will be serious development. I was doing just that when God now gave me the opportunity today to be the ruler of my people and I see it as a greater opportunity for me to use all the means I can to see that we developed. I have started this by bringing up certain programmes that will enhance my intention to move the kingdom forward.

What is the level of your relationship with other traditional rulers cross the country?

Very cordial. When I assumed office, I felt that I have to establish a relationship with the royal fathers for them not to see the death of our father as the end of their relationship with my kingdom. I did that, even as I took the pain to go round the country. I went to the North; I went to the South and to the West where I met many of these traditional rulers. In the West, I met the Ooni of Ife, the Alaafin of Oyo, the Oba of Lagos and others. In the South South, I met with a lot of them down to Bayelsa State. Many of the royal fathers also attended my coronation and many will still come because we are trying to bring Nigerians together. I went down, during my visits, with the message that we, royal fathers, should play a significant role in the effort to see that Nigeria is one and I am preaching that to everybody.

What is your message to the people of Borgu and Nigeria?

My people in Borgu Kingdom should be patient, tolerant and wait to see us do what we want to do. We have a lot to do for our people, but without patient, we may not get there. And I want to urge Nigerians to be patient because a lot of things are wrong. We don’t crucify leaders; we have to pray for them. If they fail, we have all failed. So, I want to enjoin our people to be more patient and pray for the leaders so that whatever that is going to come from them will be good for this country. We should know that our unity is our strength and so, we should come together and work in the interest of the country.