In strident defence of Maimartaba, Sarkin Kano

I  agonized for weeks before I finally decided to forcefully comment on the egregious display of shameless arrogance of power currently playing out in Kano where the governor, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, and the Kano State House of Assembly in a “tag team” manner, have arrayed themselves against Mai Martaba, Sarkin Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II. […]

I  agonized for weeks before I finally decided to forcefully comment on the egregious display of shameless arrogance of power currently playing out in Kano where the governor, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, and the Kano State House of Assembly in a “tag team” manner, have arrayed themselves against Mai Martaba, Sarkin Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II. The House of Assembly a poodle of the governor is leading the onslaught in a cynical mischievous way. First of all, I met Sarkin Kano only once when he was the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria. However, I am very much familiar with his writings and pronouncements on issues dear to him. However, his late father and Ciroman Kano, Ambassador Muhammadu Aminu Sanusi, who was a consummate and accomplished diplomat, was my Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the late 1970s. He was an introvert.

But his son, Sarkin Kano, who is an accomplished banker and economist and widely recognized and respected nationally and internationally, is an extrovert. To his credit, Sarkin Kano had many years ago, frankly admitted that the only attribute which he didn’t inherit from his father was diplomacy. He says things the way he sees them without malice or meaning any harm. 

The present problems arose not because he was wrong but because he spoke the inconvenient truth to people who are used to having their massive egos massaged. Governor Ganduje who is said to have teacher training background must have learned in Elementary Education Psychology how to deal with individual differences, including treating introverts and extroverts. If he feels offended or uncomfortable with some of the statements or pronouncements of Mai Martaba, he could have arranged a private meeting to iron out issues instead of now allowing people all over Nigeria and possibly beyond to criticize him as intolerant and tyrannical. Alternatively, he could have requested respected traditional rulers like the Sultan of Sokoto, Shehu of Borno and Lamido of Adamawa to appeal to Sarkin Kano to moderate his public statements and pronouncements.

It portrays Governor Ganduje in bad light that he appears to have spurned the mediatory role or five Northern governors. He should not allow hawks with private agenda to settle scores and push him to do anything wrong. There will be consequences. Therefore, Governor, “a yi hattara”. It is perfectly in order for the Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-corruption Agency to investigate any petition sent to it. However, anything about the Kano Emirate should be handled discreetly and tactfully and not a show be made of it. This is why the Editorial of Daily Trust of May 16, 2017 becomes all the more important. I never entertained any fear that Sarkin Kano and the Emirate Council would defend their honour and integrity. Indeed, the Emirate Council through the Councilor for Finance, Alhaji Bashir Wali, painstakingly debunked any allegation of fraud or embezzlement of public funds by the Emirate Council or Sarkin Kano.

Apparently sensing that the allegation of fraud or embezzlement will not stick or entrap Mai Martaba, the Kano State House of Assembly suddenly jumped into the fray. It strangely expanded the scope of the probe to include extraneous or nebulous issues like the desecration of Kano culture and tradition; Princess Shahida representing her father at an event; and criticism of President Buhari’s economic policies.The goal of Kano State House of Assembly is to nail Sarkin Kano by all means. What the Kano State House of Assembly has embarked on is not probe but inquisition. The use of crude and uncouth language on Sarkin Kano is regrettable and totally alien in the North.

Governor Ganduje already has his plate of political problems full, especially his unremitting problem with the well-organized and well-coordinated Kwankwasiyya Movement eagerly waiting for 2019 to unhorse him. Why does he want to open another flank? Certainly, Sarkin Kano also has a support base, especially among the marginalized and abused talakawa about whose plight he has been speaking. Like Sarkin Kano, I also strongly believe that the Talakawa who Mallam Aminu Kano fought for their emancipation all his life, have been largely abandoned by the political leadership in the North.  The little that is done for them, is done like a favour. 

The beginning of Mai Martaba’s problem began when he criticized the allegedly absentee Governor of Zamfara State who is alleged to be more in Abuja or outside the country than in his state. Senator Saidu Dan Sadau lambasted the governor for abdicating his responsibilities to the state sometime ago. It is true that most Northern governors are mostly out of their state for long period of time. Contrary to Governor of Zamfara State’s claim that sins, including fornication for the outbreak of meningitis, 95% of the sins committed in Nigeria, including adultery and fornication, are committed by the political class and elite who have the money to spend and not by the struggling plebeians. 

I support the criticism of Sarkin Kano about the charade currently going on, especially in the North in the name of governance. Poor leadership has been the bane of the North since the demise of the Premier of the North Sir Ahmadu Bello, “Gamji Dan Kwarai.” Not only Sarkin Kano but any serious minded Northerner is pained by the sorry state of the North. Currently, the North boasts of the largest of number of children out of school and it also boasts of the largest number of uneducated, unemployed and unemployable young people. Girl-child education is in a pathetic situation. Sarkin Kano is pained and I am also pained. How could learning take place in dilapidated schools and under untrained teachers? How can even a trained teacher cope with 100-150 pupils sitting on the bare floor or under the tree? Do we expect to favorably compete with the South educationally? For how long are we going to depend on quota to enter Unity Schools or tertiary Institutions?

These are the issues agitating the mind of Sarkin Kano and any Northerner who cares about the future of the North in this www.com age. It is evident that the vast majority of Northern children have been left to fate or an uncertain future. The BBC Hausa Service program entitled “BBC Hausa Service a Karkara” some years ago, vividly and graphically captured the near hopelessness and helplessness of the talakawa in the hands of state and local governments in the North due to myopic political leadership.        

I found it absolutely ridiculous the criticism that Sarkin Kano sent his daughter to represent him at the Bring Back Our Girls 3rd anniversary of the abduction of Chibok Girls from their dormitory by Boko Haram. As the son of an accomplished diplomat, Sarkin Kano knows something about PROTOCOL.  As the Managing Director of First Bank and later the CBN Governor he knows more about PROTOCOL than his traducers with provincial mentality. In protocol, the event determines the type of representation. When the family of the late Ambassador Isa Wali, an illustrious son of Kano, organized a befitting 50th Anniversary of his death, Sarkin Kano personally attended and he gave a moving speech which was well-received. When the BBC Hausa Service organized 60th Anniversary of Hausa Service Programme, Mai Martaba was ably represented by Jarman Kano, Professor Isa Hashim, who made an impassioned speech during which he touched on “adult delinquency”. I hope and pray that what is now playing out in Kano is not adult delinquency. 

The Bring Back Our Girls event was about young girls abducted by Boko Haram, thus depriving them of girl-child education, an issue dear to Sarkin Kano.  It is, therefore, apt and proper for him to send his daughter, Princess Shahida, who has had the benefit of round girl-child education to represent him. And she represented him, Emirate Council and Kano State very well where she received a standing ovation for her masterful delivery, sheer brilliance and eloquence.  Any father or family or state should have been proud of her, she was classy and articulate and consequently, an eloquent testimony to the girl-child education Sarkin Kano has been talking about. Again, some people criticized her mode of dressing which I personally found a modest and acceptable. Only people with a warped mentality will quarrel with the way young Princess Shahida dressed that day. I served as a career diplomat in two Islamic countries and also attended many international conferences, seminars and meetings with female Muslims from many Muslim countries. They all dressed in either the Western way or wore traditional attires but certainly not matronly.

The issue of culture and tradition came in. Even people with elementary knowledge of Sociology know that culture and tradition are dynamic and not static. There will always be changes, reformation, refinement or modernization or even abandonment. This precisely explains why palaces are renovated and modernized; people don’t wear “warki” or loincloth anymore; tribal marks are disappearing, and the Aku of Wukari is no longer served with calabash of poison, requiring him to drink and join his ancestors in certain circumstance. Since culture and tradition are dynamic, transformational traditional rules like Sarkin Kano should not be harangued. Sarkin Kano may seem to be far ahead of his time!

Fetish was made of Sarkin Kano riding in Rolls Royce cars and flamboyantly dressed. Is he expected to ride in Volkswagen Beetle, Toyota Corolla or Peugeot 307? I personally feel that the Sultan of Sakkwato, Sarkin Kano, Shehu of Borno and Lamido of Adamawa should ride in the best cars on offer. When the southern press criticized the purchase of Mercedes Benz 600 car in the early 1960s for the Sultan, it was the Premier of the North, Sir Ahmadu Bello, who stepped in and said that as the pre-eminent traditional ruler in West Africa, the Sultan of Sakkwato deserved the best car in the world. For dressing, traditional rulers are expected to dress well. I learnt that Sarkin Kano Sulaiman was specifically directed by Shehu Usman Danfodio to always dress well in order to earn the respect of his subjects. Arguably, Sarkin Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, has become the face of Kano since he ascended the throne. Nobody should expect the urbane, articulate and versatile Sarkin Kano, who is both a national and international personality not to dress well, flamboyantly or not. 

As for the criticism of President Buhari’s economic policies, the Presidency has better qualified people to reply Sarkin Kano. It is not the job of Kano State House of Assembly. In all honestly, I have little respect for Houses of Assembly in Nigeria for behaving like poodles of governors. I was stupefied when they unconscionably approved and thereby legalized theft of public funds in the name of pension for governors who are already stupendously rich. This legalized theft of public funds is not only obscene but unjustifiable and unsustainable. 

 In order to douse the simmering tension in Kano, I recommend that under the Chairmanship of General Abdusalami Alhaji Abubakar, Sultan of Sakkwato, Shehu of Borno, Alhaji Ibrahim Ahmadu Coomasie and General Salihu Ibrahim should urgently step in and resolve the problems between Governor Ganduje and His Highness, Muhammadu Sanusi II. Kano is reputed to be the home of commerce and progressive politics. But it is also a cauldron of combustible politics.

Dahiru was a career ambassador who served in many countries