‘How the next Kano Emir will emerge’

How does the Emirate Council feel after the death of Alhaji Ado Bayero, considering the it has been a long time since it lost an emir?Well, I’m not a member of the Emirate Council but I believe they must have felt very distressed about the death of the emir. You know he has been a […]

How does the Emirate Council feel after the death of Alhaji Ado Bayero, considering the it has been a long time since it lost an emir?
Well, I’m not a member of the Emirate Council but I believe they must have felt very distressed about the death of the emir. You know he has been a very remarkable figure in the affairs of Kano for the last 50 years. He was the head of society, the head of religion, a political leader, cultural leader and, in a way, he was a leader of everybody.  His death is really a great loss, but everybody should understand that one day, the emir, like anybody else will go away.

Over the last 50 years that the emir has ruled, what developments do you think he has brought to the traditional institution in Kano State?
The last 50 years were very crucial in the history of Kano State because it was a period of transition from a traditional to a modern society. The period has brought a lot of changes. Democracy came in, the military intervened and, then, of course, the political system changed.
We changed constitutions many times, sometimes vital constitutions. Our judiciary changed also, now we have an independent judiciary whose personnel are appointed by merit. The executive also changed, we have the executive governors and chairmen. There are a lot of changes in terms of leadership at all levels.
Even in the economy, there are changes. Kano used to practise peripheral capitalism, but now it’s a centre of capitalism. Banking has increased, we have accepted insurance and the capitalist efficiency has been improved. If you noticed all the sectors, Kano people are emerging to lead or are actively participating.
We have produced a Central Bank governor; we have produced Africa’s richest man and the Chief Justice of Nigeria. In the military, there were the late Murtala Muhammad and generals Sani Abacha. All these are crucial changes. If you compare our development with that of the time when the emir came, you will understand what I mean by tremendous changes.
When Bayero became the emir, he was the Chief Legal Officer of Kano and he could sentence you to death. He appointed all the judges, he was the Chief Executive of Kano, and he appointed everybody. He had the prisons under him, he had the police, he had the Dogarai under him, and he was in charge of everybody.  
But he was able to emerge out of the changes and adjust himself to it. He was able to leave Kano a relatively peaceful society.
And all the changes he brought involved many other factors, such as inter-ethnic relations. With the increasing economic growth of Kano and its successes, people from different parts of the country and the world came to live in Kano and it accepted them like citizens. That is very important.
This is because the emir was always in direct relationship with leaders of other ethnic groups, such as the Ooni of Ife, Obi of Onitsha and other leaders of other nationalities. So he contributed to the transformation of inter-ethnic relations.
Another area the emir was able to effectively manage is religion. You know religion has also changed during the last 50 years. We have Muslims and Christians living with one another peacefully. Even Islam itself has changed.
We have the Darika Islam, the Shi’a Islam and other inclinations. But Emir Bayero was able to stir the state and unite all the factions; no group was opposed to the emir because he knew how to relate with each of them. In doing this, he was able to forge both intra and inter religious understanding.
Again, even though Kano has also advanced both in wealth and poverty, Emir Bayero had always remained the leader of the grassroots. He listened to complaints even though he was no longer a judge. He had an office where he listened to litigations, sent the cases to judges and ensured that justice was done.  This was very important. He was also a police officer and he related with them and addressed issues of police assault or brutality.
The emir was also a banker who led Kano from a traditional to a modern economy.

How do the kingmakers handle the issue of the emir’s succession?
Kano was an independent state almost 200 years ago, that was before the coming into being of the Sokoto Caliphate. The tradition of succession dates back to 1000 years and the succession tradition had been very successful. When the Sokoto caliphate came, the process of succession never changed but the approval had to be given in Sokoto.  
When the British came, they took over the final approval through the Colonial Office and later transferred the duty to the Northern Premier and now in Nigeria, with the final approval resting with the state governor. So even the modernization brought to the emirate by the late emir has not changed the tradition of succession.
The governor would receive three names of candidates who would be nominated by four kingmakers from the Emirate Council and the criteria are that the candidates have to be the children of former emirs and must be acceptable to the rest of the society. They should be able to relate with and manage a complex society.  That’s all.  

And how many days does it take, by tradition, to appoint a successor to an emir?
It takes three days but it might exceed that, depending on the circumstances and the final endorsement would be made by the state government.

The appointment of the last Wazirin Kano by the late Emir had stirred a controversy which seemed to have affected the emir personally. It is believed that in the last 50 years, the emir’s decisions have never been overturned…
(Cuts in) It is not true. The Emir Bayero had taken many decisions that were overturned in the past. He was human. Therefore, if he appoints somebody that is not acceptable, just like this Waziri, his decision could be reversed. But you will not understand this unless you know the character of the emir himself. If he believed in you, he always believed in you, because the emir, throughout his life, had never known treachery, he had never associated with a rascal or a shameless person. He lived in a decent society protected by tradition. So he could not understand the character of the people around him in a negative way. He was always a positive person. In the case of this Waziri, people just wanted the emir to understand that there is a fundamental reason why they would not accept the appointment because the wider society related with people more frequently than the emir did.

With the death of Bayero many people think that his successor might not be as efficient and committed to the welfare of the society as he was. What is your opinion?
I also used to think that way, but I believe that God who gave Bayero to Kano could also give us another person that might be as effective as Bayero or even better.