The fall of a king

Col Abubakar Dangiwa Umar (Rtd), the former governor of Kaduna State, is from Kebbi royal family in the north. He was an irrepressible military officer who refused to keep quiet in times of moral crisis. He was retired forcefully in 1993 during Abacha’s regime because of his uncompromising attitude towards the cancellation of June 12. When there was a vacancy in the royal stool where he hails from, it was reported that he was considered for the royal post. He promptly rejected it because as a social critic, he knew he cannot fit into the conservative feudal culture of being a royalty from the north. The mouth of the emir is veiled because he is both a religious and traditional ruler who is expected to show maturity, restraint and wisdom in the administration of his domain. Umar was not willing to assume any position he is not prepared for and which runs against his natural disposition. 

Allhaji Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the former Muhammed Sanusi II and the immediate dethroned 14th Emir of Kano is a natural critic who derives pleasure in opposing the status quo and uses the words and style he chooses to express himself. He did not believe that any position deserves making him alter his lifestyle to suit such position. He believes in changing situations to suit his own lifestyle. He is highly legalistic, partisan and opinionated. He is not afraid to take up fights and is not afraid to step on toes. He loves power and enjoys position of authority which he uses to change circumstances to suit himself. He is impatient with the status quo and hates monotony. He enjoys new things and always engineers his environment to generate new things. He enjoys the stage and cherishes making headlines. Nothing conservative about him. He does not tolerate the patience and forbearance which traditional institution bestows.

As a CBN governor, he was in the news everyday. He had running battles with the bank executives and dethroned a lot of the chief executives of the banks for the simple reason that some of them have stayed too long on their seats. He forcefully took over their banks and appointed some outsiders to take over the banks. He even renamed some of the banks. Most of the banks that received the unplanned assault and shock on them never survived. He had running battles with the National Assembly which it accused of spending about 25% of the whole recurrent budget on themselves. He had running battles with the Government of Goodluck Jonathan which it accused of taking about $49b from the Central Bank. He later downgraded the theft from the Central Bank to about $20b. After investigation, the auditors contradicted his story about the disappearance of such humongous amount of money from the Central Bank. He was suspended. One wonders how a man who by nature is so constituted to be a rebel will accept such a deeply conservative position of an Emir.

In the ancient traditional society, there cannot be two kings in a Kingdom. Any King that goes against the will of his people or commits abomination is advised to commit suicide or be secretly executed by his people and another King installed. When the British came, they found the practice of executing erring monarchs archaic and replaced it with the idea of banishment. The whole Nigeria was their territory so they can afford to dethrone an Oba of Benin and banish him to Calabar. When Nigeria gained independence, it inherited the British idea of democracy and also the idea of deposing erring monarchs and banishing them.

Initially, in Nigeria, traditional leaders were allowed to participate in politics. They could contest elections and be voted into power. As the days went by, their participation was found to be inimical to the political well being of the nation. They were consequently banned from participating in politics and were made to become the custodians of the traditions and customs of their people. Nigeria is a Republic which means people oriented. Democracy is government of the people. Monarchy, when allowed in a democracy, is downgraded to a ceremonial stool and any monarch that challenges the democratically elected government meets an unfortunate end. In England, King Charles 1 was executed for treason on January 30, 1649, for daring to levy war against his own people in a bid to subordinate democratic authority to his royal stool. After his execution, his descendants were restored to the throne to oversee the religion, tradition and cultural heritage of the English people which attract tourists from all over the world. They accepted to become ceremonial head of the United Kingdom. It is this pattern that Nigeria copied. Traditional institution was preserved to oversee the religion, tradition and customs of the indigenous communities of Nigeria but made to be subservient to the authority of the democratically elected government.

Sanusi Lamido Sanusi is a well educated man. He was aware of this but still aspired to become the Emir of Kano. A close look at his ambition to sit on the throne of his grandfather appear to suggest that he wanted to prove the innocence of his grandfather, Muhammed Sanusi 1, who was deposed as an Emir of Kano in 1963 and banished for life to Azare, the present Bauchi State by the then Premier of the Northern region, Ahmadu Bello, for the reason of perceived political differences. Sanusi believed his grandfather was unfairly removed and wanted to restore the dignity of the grandfather. However, there is a proverb which says that if a child is not strong enough before challenging what happened to his father, what happened to his father will happen to him.

On the death of Emir Ado Bayero, the opportunity provided itself for Sanusi, who was already suspended as central bank governor, to become the Emir of Kano and he grabbed it with two hands. He was announced the Emir by Kwankwaso, the then Governor of Kano State and he chose the name Muhammad Sanusi the 11.

With the deposition of his grandfather in mind, he went against everything the northern elites stand for. He criticised the political elite of the north for lack of foresight, creativity, competence, integrity which have made North the poorest region, made children out of school, and so on. By the time Kwankwaso concluded his tenure, it was reported that Emir Sanusi 11 has received three queries from him. Ganduje took over from Kwankwaso and there seemed to be no love lost between them. When Ganduje wanted a second term, he believed that the Emir worked against his re-election bid and immediately he won the re-run election he decided to depose the Emir after weakening his powers by balkanizing the Kano emirate into 5.

But of more interest to people was the obvious contradiction about the person of Sanusi. Here is a man who accuses northern elites of corruption and impoverishing their people yet he parades more exotic cars, houses, wives etc than most of the leaders he is accusing of malfeasance. One wonders what Sanusi would have said about Ganduje if Ganduje as state governor was driving expensive Rolls Royce along the streets of Kano yet he has many of them as a traditional ruler. Ganduje accused the Emir of misappropriating the emirate funds running into billions of naira yet he refused to appear before an anti-corruption panel set up by the Kano State government to clear his name. All his life, he has not worked as an independent businessman and is not into manufacturing of anything yet he is believed to be stupendously rich. How can such a wealthy man who live an overt luxurious life convince people that he is the advocate of the poor. He has never felt what they are feeling. Now that the former Emir is deposed, would he use this moment to think through his life so far and see whether he can be the best model for the message he preaches? He can sell most of those exotic cars and luxurious houses and use the money to develop the north and help a lot of out of school children of the north back to school. He can begin to patronize made in Nigeria goods and become a worthy cultural ambassador of the country. He can also harken to divine instructions which states “be swift to hear, slow to speak and slow to wrath” if he will enjoy the rest of his life.