Back in 1991 when Jigawa State was created out of the old Kano State, several local governments (approximating districts) of old Kano Emirate fell into the new state either by political design or geographic accident. As it would have been a misnomer for an Emir to have ‘suzerainty’ beyond his artificial colonial ‘state’, those ‘stranded’ districts would later metamorphose into new emirates of their own. And that was the birth of Jigawa State’s Dutse and Ringim Emirates which joined the already existing Hadejia, Gumel and Kazaure Emirates to become five.
Fast forward to 2019 – almost three decades later. No new state has been carved out of Kano (a desire burning in the hearts of many citizens), but an artificially-engineered crisis has been created and is now brewing almost to a boiling point. Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje’s creation of the new emirates of Bichi, Gaya, Karaye and Rano is politics taken too far. The government contends that it acted on ‘demands’ of people of those areas, but there is no shred of evidence to confirm that. None whatsoever.
We Kano people have been lucky, alhamdu lilLah. All of us are ‘related’ one to another in many ways than one. We are, comparable only perhaps to Sokoto, the ‘almost homogenous’ species of Nigerians – Hausa-speaking Hausa-Fulani Muslims under one Emirate. Unlike our sister state of Jigawa, for example, before this new tinkering, Kano didn’t have, and didn’t need, to contend with inter-emirate rivalry and petty cleavages based on where one’s village lay by the will of God and accident of geography.
To illustrate this dilemma, recall that Ibrahim Saminu Turaki (Kazaure Emirate) was governor for eight years; Sule Lamido (Dutse Emirate) was governor for eight years. Now Muhammad Badaru Abubakar (Ringim Emirate) has been governor since 2015. Kano was thankfully spared of this arithmetic. Until now, that is. For what this crisis is trying to do is the pitting of the subjects of the governor’s ‘new’ smaller Kano Emirate against the subjects of his four ‘new’ emirates.
It is important we recall the genesis. Back in May (coinciding with Ramadan), the governor had, with fiat in cahoots with the State House of Assembly, created these emirates which were later overturned by a court of competent jurisdiction. In an earlier Column on this page back in June titled ‘Pot Calling Kettle Black’ (which alluded to the then trending dollar-pocketing videos), we had stated that the people of Kano have fallen victim of an inconclusive existential battle between Kwankwasiyya and its estranged cousin, Gandujiyya (birds of the same feather that were now not flocking together), and the Emir had become a pawn in that power game.
We may also recall that a query was issued to the emir to answer why the government should not implement the recommendation of the Kano State Government’s Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission (PCAC) to suspend him as part of its investigation into the misappropriation of N3.4 billion. That word ‘misappropriation’ informed the selection of that article’s title ‘Pot Calling Kettle Black’ (if you know what I mean).
Recall also that the same PCAC investigation had started back in 2017, but was ‘halted’ when the Kano State House of Assembly started its own investigation into the same matter around the same time. The Commission, claiming to defer to superior authority (House of Assembly) ‘suspended’ its own investigation. Now, governor, who has also been accused of pecuniary embarrassment himself, turned around to seek to protect the Kano citizenry from the pilfering of their commonwealth. Good for goose. Good for gander.
Coming to the matter at hand, had there been a visible agitation in the form of protests and media noise demanding creation of new emirates, we would have understood. Had there been a public hearing by the State House of Assembly to gauge people’s opinions and the supposed ‘Brexit’ campaign won, we would have understood. Had there been, ultimately, a referendum (a la Brexit again), and the Ayes had it, we would have understood. But there was none.
So we Kanawa are in an artificial crisis – all forty-four local government areas of us; all twenty millions of us. A needless trouble has been stirred for no apparent just cause. The truth of the matter is that a little ego-related ‘misunderstanding’ between two of our leaders seems to have now generated into this crisis of many dimensions and proportions.
In came a new Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), ‘Advocates For A United Kano’, a non-partisan group committed to the peace and progress of Kano who recently expressed deep concern about the persistence of the governor in the dismantling of the Kano Emirate, which they described as‘a product of the efforts of our forefathers, and which has survived for centuries championing purposeful administration and scholarship in the emirate and beyond.’
As elders sincerely concerned with the unity, wellbeing and progress of the people, the Advocates considered this act by the governor as misguided and dictatorial and, therefore, called on him to immediately cause the repeal of his Law.The Advocates’ resolve was informed by careful consideration of the fact that the personal ambitions of the governor should not be allowed to jeopardise the overall common good and harmonious relationship existing among the Kano populace.
But if,they continued to say, in the wisdom of the Governor the new Emirates are necessary in order to fast-track development, then the Law must be subjected entirely to the processes of popular will, as this is a matter of strategic public significance which should be subjected to established democratic ideals. The voice of people must be heard and respected.
Kano, more than many other states, faces several existential challenges, and creation of new emirates has never been proffered among the solutions. Three million Almajiris (according to the governor himself) roam our streets; millions of our youths are into drugs as a collateral damage of the serious unemployment crisis staring us in the face; half of our women end up divorced and abandoned without alimony or child maintenance (and the Kano Social Policy drafted to address that has not been made into law).
No, New Emirates cannot be our Great Leap Forward!
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