Within hours of his announcement as the Emir of Kano, friends of controversial former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, especially of the All Progressives Congress (APC) have been thronging Kano, exultingly waving their newly won trophy, courtesy of latter day APC saint, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso. Nasir el-Rufai has been at the forefront of the crow festival, festered by a misfire by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which rushed to issue a statement to congratulate the son of the late Emir, Ado Bayero. PDP had promptly disowned the statement, but the contrived damage was already done.
For anyone who had any doubt about the political affiliations of the new emir, the less than noble manner his APC friends went about celebrating his emergence has removed the doubts and consequently tainted the revered stool of the Sarkin Fulani Kano; and even Sanusi, who has worked all his life to be an emir must be feeling diminished in his sober moments.
Forget that Kwankwaso is telling the world that politics was not involved. It was an afterthought; even the story he told that Sanusi was number one on the list. What is difficult to understand is when it had become imperative for kingmakers to be beamed on television with state government officials announcing a new emir. It is also sad that in the last days of the emir, he suffered the humiliation of having a nominee rejected for a traditional stool and threatened with deposition by the state governor.
According to Kwankwaso, “The selection procedure is not like that of an election in our today political arrangement where you put ballot boxes at the polling units….The name of our new Emir was among the list. In fact, he was the first on the list. All due procedures were followed in the selection of the new Emir. People should know that the appointment of a new Emir is the sole responsibility of a governor.”
APC, on its part, wrote concerning the preemptive statement of the PDP: “What is so urgent about congratulating the new Emir that could not have waited for a few hours for the appropriate authority to make an official announcement? It is therefore obvious that the PDP, through its National Publicity Secretary, went out of their way to stoke the fire of violence in Kano.
“Since we live in a country which is being governed by the rule of law, the best option open to the Kano State government is for the state Attorney-General to immediately initiate criminal proceedings against PDP and its officials for incitement. Whatever explanations they have for their irresponsible and premeditated actions, they should reserve for their defence in court.’’
Former Federal Capital Territory Minister and APC APC Deputy National Secretary, el-Rufai, who some internet buffs describe as Minister of Facebook, garrulous as ever, like his loquacious twin brother, Lai Mohammed, blamed the PDP for the violence raging in Kano.
He said: “When the PDP realised Sanusi was about to be appointed the new Emir, they did everything to frustrate it. I wonder why because it is not the responsibility of the President to appoint the Emir and so they have lost. They should just forget the game. It is all in their effort to create confusion and frustration over the appointment that they stop the landing of private jets in Malam Aminu Kano International Airport.
“It was as a result of that action on the airport that many governors were not able to make it to the occasion of witnessing the handing over of the letter of appointment to the new Emir. It is God that selects the Emir and not anybody. Although the kingmakers made their selection and the governor does his appointment, but I can tell you his case was God-making.”
But what the APC, el-Rufai, and the Kano Governor have been unable to respond to is the alleged tweet which the PDP said was sent out by the former CBN Governor that the late emir’s son was picked over him.
History is replete with protests that greet the emergence of traditional rulers because there are usually contending forces for a royal stool; and knowing the passion with which Sanusi pursues all his matters, it is not surprising that protests greeted his emergence. The protests were bound to be because Sanusi had stepped on several toes, big and small. And for a man who was seen as a politician, who did not hide his position on matters political, economic, religious, and sometimes downright mundane, he was bound to have enemies.
el-Rufai was patently wrong when he attempted to point towards Abuja; because Abuja, even though it had no love relationship with the noisy former CBN Governor, did not have to incite any violence against the man. Even el-Rufai knows that any day he emerges as anyone of consequence that was not strictly through appointive means, he will evoke similar strong emotions, what with the way he made enemies doing what he did as Abuja’s minister.
What el-Rufai should be telling Nigerians is why a man so rubbished with the tar brush of corruption should emerge as one of the most powerful traditional rulers in the country. Did he deserve to be named as emir? el-Rufai thinks so, but everyone knows that he is using less than his head or heart for the endorsement since he has already told us on his Facebook page that Sanusi is his soul-mate, whatever that means. Nigerians know that whenever the former minister takes a position, rightly or wrongly, he does not like to hear any other voice, at least for that moment. He is so rabidly consumed by the passion of the moment he does not see reason with anyone, except his soul mates then.
He once told us, when his soul father was Olusegun Obasanjo, and his mates were the like of Obasanjo’s kitchen cabinet, that General Muhammadu Buhari was not fit to be president and could not win an election in Nigeria. He did not care to listen to any other opinion. But less than a decade later, facing court charges and buffeted on all sides, he thinks Buhari is the best thing for Aso Villa. What a man! What an emotion!
In this matter of Sanusi as emir, Governor Rotimi Amaechi has also regaled the country with the James Bond moves that he and other APC chieftains made to get out of Kano for fear that their lives were in danger. More like the acts of thugs, they broke a gate at an airport, commandeered a car, and drove through the night to Abuja. You wonder whether this was a governor speaking and telling those who voted him in Rivers State that he acted less than the dignity of his office.
With Sanusi, it is difficult to tell what will unfold next, because the man simply brings out the unpredictable in parties, governors, and people. Nigeria watches with bated breath for the next scene.