Sanusi II: Throwing away the baby with the bath water

The dethronement of the former emir of Kano, Lamido Sanusi Lamido II, by the Kano state government came to many reasonable people as a rude shock. The pedigree of the former Emir, both academic and otherwise are impeccable, intimidating and an added advantages for any nation in dire need of development not to talk of an emirate, dethroning such a personality by Kano state government left much to be desired. Emir Sanusi Ladimo Sanuisi II became the emir on June 8, 2014, shortly after he was removed by the former president Goodluck Jonathan as the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria. Though controversial, Lamido Sanusi belongs to a class of his own. He is a proud Fulani man, a prince from a prominent royal family of the great city of Kano and a highly educated being. He was well read and had the rudiment of economic development in his firm grip. As a governor of the Central Bank, he did not see himself as an appointee of the Federal government, a situation where he would have compromised his position on the corrupt practices bedeviling Jonathan’s administration. He was a nettle on the side of President Jonathan and parasitic elite in Nigeria.

As the Emir, Sanusi came to the throne arming himself with his academic brilliance, exposure and candor. He was critical of the under development in the north which is evident in endemic poverty, insurrection and banditry, and Almajiri menace and its attendant social malaise on the streets in the north. He heaped the blame on successive governments in the north and Kano state in particular who preferred to build light railway with 2 billion dollars than embarking on education reformation that would remove these urchins from the streets. He preached one man wife in a clime where polygamy is the norm. He clamored for education reformation in the north which will make northern graduates marketable and not necessarily depend on quota system and federal character to get jobs. Lamido Sanusi lamented the backwardness of the north in relation to the south and warned of the dire consequences for the future generation if the trend is not halted. He in short called for a sort of non violent revolution in the north where women could be governors if men failed to perform and youth replaced the aged leaders. This no doubt brought him in collision with the reactionary forces in the north that bent on taking a pound of flesh from him.

Lamido Sanusi could be said to be a victim of his own virtues. He is a voice in the wilderness, a wilderness where feudalism is competing with Democracy. Feudalism sustained by subjugation of the children of the downtrodden in the modern era. Sanusi played himself into the hands of the reactionary forces that are out to perpetuate feudalism and keep the north in perpetual state of anomie. If not, his messages should have been well received even if the messenger would be discarded. But here we are, the messages unheeded and the messenger gotten rid off.

The summary dethronement of Sanusi II by Governor Ganduje calls to question the unbridled power granted the governors by the Nigerian constitution. The role of traditional rulers in the development of this nation, especially in the area of sustenance of our culture, maintenance of peace and unity and their advisory role cannot be over-emphasized. This makes it imperative that they be given a role to perform constitutionally and if this cannot be done because of the competition for space between politicians and traditional rulers since the colonial days, the traditional institution should be safeguarded constitutionally from the power drunk political office holders. Traditional rulers themselves have to wake up and use their connections and means to wrestle their institutions from the shackles of power drunk politicians. This is imperative before their white linen is soaked in the mud.

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Reasons given by Ganduje and his cohorts for removing Sanusi are jejune and cannot stand the test of legal scrutiny. According to the Kano State SSG, Alhaji Usman, Sanusi is guilty of “disrespect to lawful institutions from the office of the state government and other lawful authorities, including his persistent refusal to attend official meetings and programmes organized by the government without any lawful justification which amount to total insurbordination” this according to law is in violation of part 3 section A –E of the Kano state law. Kano state government is an accuser and a judge in its own case and Sanusi not being given an opportunity to defend himself made his removal null and void.

In the characteristic manner of our Muslim brothers and sisters and which has helped in perpetuating injustice and callousness in our land, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi II has been reported to have said that he accepted the dethronement as the will of Allah. This to me is unquestionable. Edmund Burke quipped that “the only condition for evil to thrive is that men of conscience keep quest”. Sanusi has to fight his removal in the law court. This is the path of honour not for his own sake, but for the sake of other progressive monarchs across board whose fate have been put on the line by Ganduje’s  executive recklessness displayed in Sanusi displacement and which other reactionary forms would copy. Ganduje has turned Kano into a centre of absurdity and the earlier he realizes this better. The other time, it was a picture of a governor filling his Babanriga’s pocket with raw dollars that went viral on social media. Later, it was the threat of vote Ganduje or die that follows; now it is illegal dethronement of an Emir. The society where dog is chasing a lion has made itself a center of absurdity. This is Ganduje’s Kano.

adewuyi Adegbite

ayekooto05@gmail.com