Scholar and renowned historian, Dr. Umar Ardo, has urged the Sultan of Sokoto, and Muslims in Kano State to resist the creation of four new emirates by Governor Abdullahi Ganduje.
The governor signed the bill whic broke the Kano emirate into 5, last week.
Ardo, who warned that the move would destroy the caliphate, if allowed to stand, accused the royal house of aiding and abetting the governor.
He said Sanusi had done nothing wrong but was only been victimised for his outspokenness.
‘’The Sultan, all members of the caliphate, the Muslim ummah and the Fulbe people should not only condemn it but should stand up against it.
“The emirates have already been created from the time of Shehu Uthman dan Fodio. And, if you now start balkanising them, you are just reducing the prestige and effectiveness of the emirate system. It is the caliphate establishment that is the loser.”
The scholar said Ganduje was exploiting divisions in the royal house between Muhammadu Sanusi II, the emir of Kano, and his cousins, to undermine the emirate and its heritage.
“Some of the members of the caliphate establishment are themselves instigators of the problem because they are not on good terms with their cousins who are on the throne.
“They are forgetting that they are destroying the system of which they hope to one day benefit from. They are in fact benefitting from it because you do not have to be an emir to benefit from the emirate establishment.”
He said although this was not the first time the caliphate would come under attack, silence would embolden the “bulkanisers.”
Meanwhile, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged Ganduje to use his good offices and position to “publicly reject life pensions and brand-new vehicles for lawmakers bill passed by the state House of Assembly
The group also urged him to prevail on the state lawmakers to immediately drop the bill and to honour their fiduciary duties imposed by the Constitution of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) and Nigeria’s international anti-corruption obligations.”
The bill stipulates:‘there shall be paid pension to person(s) who held office as speaker and deputy speaker equal to the emoluments of a serving speaker and deputy speaker. The speaker and deputy speaker shall, on completion of their terms, be entitled to a grant of pension for life by the state.’”
“The bill also provides that ‘there shall be provided for the speaker and the deputy speaker a brand-new vehicle to be bought by the state government every four years. There shall be provided for the speaker and the deputy speaker medical expenses either home or abroad depending on the nature of the illness.’”
In a May 10 letter, signed by SERAP Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, the group said: “this bill represents law-making in the interest and personal satisfaction of the lawmakers, which flagrantly offends the principles of legal justice and the rule of law.