The
dethronement of His Royal Highness Muhammadu Sanusi II is a huge loss for my
home state of Kano, but what appears to be Kano’s loss, might become Nigeria’s
gain. I have followed the ugly drama of his unfortunate dethronement from the
throne he craved to ascend his entire adult life, yet, like the sudden end of a
dream, it was whisked away from him in the most unfortunate of circumstances.
I have decided
to engage in the debate about this historical saga for three reasons. First,
Kano is my home state, and whatever happens in Kano is of interest to me
personally. The second reason is the condition of Northern Nigeria. In the last
decade, Northern Nigeria has become the hub of many social ills that should
give every right thinking individual sleepless nights. An insurgency that has
wrecked the population especially in the northeast of the country. An alarming
level of poverty that has become the signpost of every street in the region.
Social problems like high rate of divorce, and the mother of all problems in
the region, child-begging or what is known as almajiranci, where
millions of children run the street under the pretense of searching for Islamic
education when in reality it is simply a sign of the failure of parenting.
Yet, the
leadership of the region from independence to date has failed to find a
solution to this problem, despite the region producing more leaders for the
country, and the states most affected by the culture of street begging being
run by the indigenes of the place, let alone blame others for our predicament.
One person who has consistently elevated
the debate about these social ills in our society and utilized his authority,
personal appeal, public engagements, international networks, and seizes every
opportunity to draw sympathy to the situation of the child-beggar is His Royal
Highness Muhammadu Sanusi II (a.k.a Sanusi Lamido Sanusi).
Not everybody
agrees with his approach of defying traditional convention to be an advocate
for social reform because of his position as a traditional authority. Others
have questioned his attempt at making Ijtihad, a methodology in Islamic
law that applies legal reasoning to find solution to contemporary challenges
that do not have explicit explanation in the two main sources of legislation in
Islam, that is the Qur’an and Sunnah (traditions of prophet Muhammad, peace be
upon him), nor is there a consensus of opinion on them (ijma).
But Ijtihad is
an issue that that has been thoroughly debated by scholars of Usul Al fiqh
(the roots and foundation of investigating the methodologies to drive legal
rulings from original sources), and a common position among the scholars of
Usul is that a mistake of Ijtihad in
non-fundamental issues of religion should be excused, and are not considered
sinful. Disagreements and diversity of
opinion was common throughout Islamic history and it has only enriched the
discourse aimed at arriving at public good. Some of us have disagreed with His
Royal Highness in the past, but such differences in understanding of issues
should never be a justification for the suppression of truth as we have seen
with the brutal nature Muhammadu Sanusi II was dethroned from the Amirship of
Kano emirate. In my opinion, this is not an attempt at a personality, but a
deliberate effort at dethroning public conscience.
The third
reason is the need for a public face to continue representing public conscience
at least in Northern Nigeria. The region cannot afford the silence of the
learned. Enough damage has been done to the North by the shear aloofness of its
elites. Here, I do not mean a political icon; we are already seeing the
monumental failure of investing the entire effort of the region on
personalities. Going by our political model, a politician can only serve in an
executive office for maximum of eight years. The problems of Northern Nigeria
will take a generation to solve.
In conclusion,
I would like to suggest a three points agenda for His Royal Highness, Muhammad
Sanusi II for the benefit of Northern Nigeria, and the larger Nigerian society.
This simple manifesto could keep him busy for the rest of his life.
The first
agenda is to aggressively engage in writing serious compendiums, which is what
intellectuals do in every society that prospers. As the social critic, poet, and religious
philosopher Søren
Kierkegaard stated, “life
can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” Today, the
Qur’an and any theological scripture that serves as a manual that enriches
public ethics does so because our predecessors saw the need to ensure it is put
it in print. A word in written form has an exceptional rhythm in capturing the
imagination of generations unborn. Ideas, no matter how powerful would be
forgotten if not documented in written form. Neither Adam Smith or Karl Marx
would have influenced the 19th-20th century economic
systems without putting their ideas in writing.
The second agenda is to establish a foundation that will
focus on tackling the very issues that attracted the wrath of the mediocre
politicians to remove him from the throne. The priority should be on educating
the child-beggar (almajiri). Nigeria has one of the highest numbers of
Out-of-School Children, majority of them in northern Nigeria. As one of the
advocates appointed to promote the SDGs by the UN Secretary General, you have a
major platform to attract resources to help achieve the targets of SDG4. The second priority for this foundation is to
focus on rebuilding the family system particularly in Northern Nigeria where
divorce rates, and irresponsible men abandoning their responsibilities created
some of the mess in the region. The third priority for the foundation is to
work on youth empowerment, particularly equipping them with skills for
entrepreneurship, innovation and SMEs. His personal library alone could be
converted to public use, and serve as a starting point for the foundation, few
people have access to such useful collection of literature.
The third agenda is to refine and strengthen your role as an
advocate for social change. This can be done by working with like minds across
the aisle, from Northern and Southern Nigeria. The youth are looking for role
models, for inspiration, and for a sense of direction. There is scarcity of
true role models in Nigeria, this is a vacuum that needs to be filled with
immediate effect. I know some people are already blowing the siren of 2023 for
you. That is your decision to make. But in or out of politics, the new chapter
in your life is an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of ordinary
Nigerians and beyond.
13/03/2020
11:10 pm
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