Letter from a departed Etsu

My Life: The story of my life, certainly, cannot sufficiently be told at an occasion such as this, owing to the limited time available for reminiscences. However, a brief insight into some of what I consider ideal and moderate in the life of a Muslim, particularly those entrusted with reins of authority, may be found […]

My Life:

The story of my life, certainly, cannot sufficiently be told at an occasion such as this, owing to the limited time available for reminiscences. However, a brief insight into some of what I consider ideal and moderate in the life of a Muslim, particularly those entrusted with reins of authority, may be found useful.

Contentment and Modesty:

Reports reaching me indicate that wealth and the desperate search for it have over-shadowed nearly every aspect of human activity since my departure.  I am told that it has gotten to a point where if a “prophet” were to come to people of the twenty-first century; money would certainly be the “testament” with which to call them to the path of God; otherwise, like Prophet Nuhu (AS), he would spend a century without a follower. I urge you all to enrich your hearts with contentment and moderation as exhorted by Allah (SWT) and the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (SAW).

It might interest this audience to know that at death, I had N150 only for my heirs to inherit. The only house I had was the one I inherited along with my other siblings from our father, in the same manner he, too, inherited it from Etsu Abubakar I (reigned 1900-1919), our grandfather and the 4th Etsu Agaie. I had only one car with which I had an accident on 19th June 1987 along Agaie-Katcha road while travelling to arbitrate between two disagreeing communities in Baro district. Of course, if I had wanted, I would have gathered as much wealth as I desired because, I had all the opportunities to do so. But posterity, two decades after my journey to the world beyond, would have proved me right that amassing wealth is not and should not be the ultimate in a man’s life. Permit me to remind you of a verse from the Qur’an, which Liman Ishaku once quoted in this context, “…And those saved from the covetousness of their own souls, they are the ones that achieve prosperity” (Qur’an 64:16). With the limited resources I had, I still found pleasure in being generous to people in my own little way.

Traditional Authority as a trust:

Authority, whether traditional or conventional, must be seen in the light of a trust placed by Allah (SWT) in the hands of those He chooses among men. I find it incredible that some of those entrusted with power and authority today betray such at will, sometimes in very un-honorable ways. Conscience, which expectedly should be the psychological element by which every trustworthy person is guided, has disappointedly been lost by some custodians of matters and articles of trust. Remember that the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) has told us that betrayal of trust is one of the three major attributes of a hypocrite. Let us therefore strive to uphold every bit of the trust placed upon us.

A car was once sent to me as a gift. The purpose was to solicit my patronage and support so that the people of Agaie would vote for the ruling party in the general elections that were approaching at that time. I rejected the offer for two obvious reasons. First, I would have betrayed the trust which required me not to use the office I occupied as Etsu Agaie to usurp people’s right of choosing or voting for candidates of their choice. Accepting the offer would require me to coerce my subjects to vote against their wishes. Second, I would have, by so doing, betrayed the confidence of other political parties that expected me not to canvass for votes for a particular political party. These issues, I suppose, guided my conscience with wisdom to reject the offer. I wish to advise all those entrusted with power and authority to suppress the self-seeking impulses of their hearts and put themselves above materialistic tendencies.

Relationship with Government:

In my thirty-six years on throne, I was privileged to serve no fewer than ten governors, namely: Sir Gawain Bell; Sir Ahmadu Bello, KBE; Major General Hassan Usman Katsina; Police Commissioner Usman Faruk; Commodore Murtala Nyako. Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe; Alhaji Muhammad Awwal Ibrahim; Colonel David A.B. Mark; Colonel Garba Ali Mohammad and Colonel Lawan Gwadabe.

Throughout my allegiance to these governors in their respective tenures, neither I nor my office was threatened by any of them. As Royal fathers, we were held in high esteem by the governors. I never went to the Government House at Kaduna, Sokoto or Minna (as the case may be) unless we were called or there was a compelling need to do so. This was my humble way of doing all that was humanly possible to preserve the integrity of the institution I represented.

As a weapon against falsehood and for the impartial, conscientious and honest discharge of their duties, Royal Fathers must resolve to create a space in their hearts for the verse of the Qur’an, which Liman Shehu Ahmadu Kankuru had repeatedly quoted in this regard, “Say: O God! Lord of Power (and Rule), Thou givest Power to whom Thou pleasest, and Thou strippest off Power from whom Thou pleasest: Thou enduest with honor whom Thou pleaset, and Thou bringest low whom Thou pleasest: In Thy hand is all Good. Verily, over all things Thou hast power” (Qur’an 3:26).

Natural Tendencies:

I was often accused of being impatient. I was not unaware of that human weakness in me. However, my impatience was more easily provoked whenever I was faced with a situation of failure or injustice. I had zero tolerance for even a signal of failure or injustice. This was why I was always hurt when my people, individually or collectively, failed to make it to success. On the other hand, I felt very excited at any moment I heard of any achievements being accomplished by my people, including the birth of a newly-born baby.

An instance of my impatience with failure was the one I displayed when in 1965 the arrangement of seats for dignitaries at an agricultural show venue in Etsugaie was unfinished as at 3pm on the eve of the occasion. I could not hide my displeasure from the then village head of Etsugaie in the presence of all. After I was pacified by Alhaji Muhammad Lawal, Wazirin Agaie, I gave the village head an order to get the venue set before 6pm of the same day, to which the village head gracefully complied. Let me quickly add that inspite of the reprimands and reproaches I often exhibit over particular matters of failure or injustice, it was typical of me to forgive and forget easily.

My Legacies:

I have been reliably informed that most of what I valued as legacies have become shadows of their former glorious selves. Of all the lost legacies, the one that disturbs me most is the state of education. While the system may have terribly gone bad in every part of the country, it worries me that it is worst in Agaie Emirate.

Education

I learnt that classrooms in many primary schools are roofless, floorless and chair-less. I am not satisfied with the explanations someone here with me has attempted to give, stating that funds coming to the local government in the last few years have been grossly inadequate to tackle the problems of basic education in the Emirate. Although I do not have figures to dispute the argument, I strongly believe that the excuse is a weak one. The same schools that many of you passed through at Agaie, Kutiriko, Tagagi, Loguma and Etsugaie are the same centers of learning that have been neglected and allowed to decay by government and by the communities in which they are cited. Would you not be ashamed in your respective capacities as commissioners, advisers, chairmen and councilors to tell your colleagues from other parts of the country that you passed through these dilapidated schools? Is it not embarrassing that pupils sit on bare floors in most schools in Agaie?

I am not oblivious of the constituency projects being undertaken by Honorable Mohammed Baba Audu in the construction of classrooms in various parts of the Emirate. I do not also doubt the fact that the damage in the education sector is devastating. Nonetheless, I think the task of revamping this ailing sector requires strategic planning that could be developed from a baseline data on the state of education in the emirate. It would not be out of place if such planning is subjected to a summit of professionals whose technical knowledge and experience might suggest a workable blueprint for saving this paramount system from further collapse. A developing community like Agaie cannot afford to watch the most valuable asset of this and future generations being left, like a pendulum, to hang in the air.

I am giving you six months from today within which I want to see positive changes in the state of education in Agaie Emirate. You all know that I have people joining me every now and then at my present abode. If the report I get through them at the expiration of this ultimatum does not depict any positive improvements, I will send you a letter such as this directing you to remove my name from where it is currently being immortalized on a primary school in Agaie. Further sanctions might also follow. Of course, it is natural for me to assume this level of bitterness over the state of education in Agaie Emirate. If the state of schools in this Emirate were as they are today, would many of you have had a taste of the education that prepared you to become directors, accountants, engineers, health workers, local government chairmen, commissioners and advisers, members of state and national assemblies, lawyers or auditors? Now, I am giving you a respite to join hands together with all relevant stakeholders to put education in Agaie Emirate, particularly at the basic level, in good shape. Whoever sabotages the communal and personal efforts of my people in responding to this riot-act will certainly not receive my blessings.

(Continued next week)

Ndagi is of Department of Linguistics, University of Abuja. This article was excerpted from a paper delivered at the recently-held Late Etsu Muhammadu Bello Memorial Lecture.