Kano Emirate continuing saga of conflict (II)

Ever since the first part of this piece was published penultimate week, Kano has continued to be active on the radar. By the day…

Ever since the first part of this piece was published penultimate week, Kano has continued to be active on the radar. By the day, it seems as if the political colouration in this commercial nerve centre of the North is becoming murkier and murkier. The happenings have been too rapid even for the most perspective analysts to digest.

It all began, as I related in that earlier piece, with the declaration by the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) leader, Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso, that they would advise the incoming Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf to reopen the rested Kano Emirate matter and revisit the dethronement of Muhammadu Sanusi II as Emir of Kano in 2020.

But in the last many days, matters seemed to have gone beyond the emirate issue. It is now patently apparent that the NNPP is angling for bigger fishes in the national political waters. In a surprising development, the NNPP, which has now established itself as the predominant party in Kano, is reported to be making serious overtures of friendship to the incoming APC government at the centre.  When pictures of the NNPP leader, Kwankwaso alongside that of the former Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II in Paris, were splashed in the media about the same time Nigeria’s president-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, was resting there, it revved up a frenzy of rumours.

Mercifully, the handlers of the president-elect were quick to douse all the speculations by confirming that the meeting took place, but it was explained as part of a broad consultation with all stakeholders. Multiple reports later alluded to the role played by a member-elect from Kano State, Abdulmumini Jibrin, a close associate of Kwankwaso and the first Director General of Tinubu’s presidential campaign, for having brokered the meeting between his principal and Tinubu.

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Readers might recall that Jibrin had resigned from that position to join the newly-formed NNPP, whose cover he used to contest and win a return to the House of Representatives in the February 25 elections.

In any case, the NNPP is not short of friends within the inner sanctum of the Tinubu presidency. The former Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, is closely associated with Governor Nasir El-Rufa’i of Kaduna State, Tinubu’s dependable ally, and a host of others whom he came across in his banking career.

However, these manoeuvres by the NNPP around the President-elect, Tinubu, have not been going down well with Kano’s outgoing governor, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, who felt being let down by the president-elect for carousing with his arch-rival. He felt like being thrown under the bus to find accommodation for Kwankwaso’s people in the new government.

I guess the president-elect was being typically pragmatic by casting a line in the NNPP and beckoning to its leadership for consultations. Though the NNPP won only one state, that state, Kano, cannot be wished away in any political permutation. The sheer size of its voting power and the commercial centrality it enjoys in the North and probably the entire Sahel region makes it a political entity that cannot be ignored.

It is probably in the works to find accommodation for Kwankwasiyya elements in the Tinubu government. Nevertheless, from my perch, I can see a silver lining for dousing the conflict surrounding the Kano emirate. The talents of Muhammadu Sanusi II, the constant in the conundrum, could be deployed to international affairs as an ambassador to some key agencies where his experience as a brilliant economist and a central banker of repute will come to play. This will be where his outspokenness would bring glory to the country.

 

Re: Kano Emirate Saga of Conflict I

A senior colleague sent in this to illuminate the piece:

“I enjoyed reading your article titled Kano Emirate Continuing Saga of Conflicts. But I am more interested in the two emirs you included in the article, namely Alhaji Usuman Sarki, the Etsu Nupe, and the Emir of Muri, Alhaji Umaru Abba Tukur. This is the name I have known since his school days and when he served as Junior Minister in Kaduna before becoming the Emir of Muri.

In the case of the Etsu Nupe, he was the Federal Minister of Internal Affairs before Etsu. There were some fireworks in Bida Emirate when he was announced as the Etsu Nupe. His selection as Etsu did not conform to the existing tradition for his selection.

The crisis was continually simmering up to the time the military took over in 1966. The Nupe remained calm but still determined to get rid of the new Etsu. They got the opportunity they were waiting for when the Etsu stepped out of Bida for a few days. On the day he was due to return the mob took over Bida etc and refused to allow the Etsu to return.

The North Western State Government of Usman Faruk did not want such a major conflict in the middle of the Nigerian Civil War. So, a compromise was reached that the Etsu be dethroned immediately. He was exiled to Bakura until his death.

“My best wishes.” 08035863662