This page was last week full of praise for Kano State Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje for his ban of begging, especially that of the Almajiri boy-child. Perhaps I spoke to too soon. This week’s deposition and banishment of Sarkin Kano Muhammad Sanusi II by the same governor has almost negated everything I said last week, when the same government featured so positively prominently on this page. This dethronement, I declare, is unbelievably obnoxious, incredibly condemnable and horribly inexcusable.
We are witnessing a game of Russian Roulette during the Ides of March! In fact, as a citizen of Kano, I (and many others) feel the need to ‘port’. But where do we ‘port’ to?
I think someone in the Kano State Government has a great sense of humour; there is a current government programme called “Loko Kal-Kal”, which is aimed at sanitising all the nooks and corners of the metropolis (with ‘Karkara Salamu Alaikum’ being the rural equivalent). So when Sarki Sanusi was first taken to ‘Loko’, my immediate thought was the connotation of the word for, you see, in Hausa Loko = Lungu = Cul de Sac. Nook. Corner. Cranny. What crafty people!
Therefore, before I could bring myself to ‘port’ to Loko, they had moved, or removed, again, the dePORTED Emir.
We Kano people most sincerely thank the Imam of Loko (in whose house Sanusi slept the morning (not the night, as he arrived almost 3am). More gratitude to His Royal Highness the Sarkin Loko. May the few hours of Sanusian Adventure in (complete with a spectacle of a helicopter courtesy of the IG of Police) translate into the completion of Loko’s greatest project, the Oweto Bridge over River Benue (the completion of which will make you ‘Loko’ no more, if not in name but in geography). We also wish you more journalistic coverage of your town, and attraction of more visitors.
So then, next day (actually same day), the deposed Emir was re-dePORTED from Loko to Awe, sister of Doma. And we Hausas know these towns so very well, as they are encapsulated in the Hausa proverb “Abin Da Ya Ci Doma Ba Ya Barin Awe” (roughly, ‘whatever may happen to neighbouring Doma would not spare Awe; and vice versa). The people of Awe, we thank you for receiving one of us among you. Thanks for that nice guest house and all those accoutrements of accommodation. And yes, thank you for letting Sanusi lead the Friday Prayers. Hope you enjoyed the Khutbah (Sermon).
Our prayer for you, in the spirit of ‘Abin Da Ya Ci Doma…’, is that since Doma have produced a governor of Nasarawa State (Alhaji Aliyu Akwe Doma), Awe shall also produce a governor (that is, if none of the past governors was from your place). We pray for that to happen in sha Allah. Mun gode Awe.
As we ported from Awe Friday afternoon after the Jumu’ah Service, it is not because we are unthankful, but because the legal team of the dePORTED king has succeeded in convincing a court of law that his fundamental human rights, especially his right to freedom of movement, have been compromised by the Kano State Government. So to port is now legal. And oh, thank you Kaduna Governor el Rufai for being among the Friday congregation, and for those two positions given to the Emir. We may well port to Kaduna one day.
Despite the fact that Sarki Sanusi was dePORTED to these two Muslim towns in Nasarawa State, I have not had the opportunity of ‘porting’ with him. And one other thing – Sanusi’s known cellphone line is an Airtel, and they said the network in Loko was not too strong. When next we meet, I shall ask him whether he also considered ‘porting’ to Glo or MTN.
Hear this: When the Presidency said Buhari “had no hand in Sanusi’s dethronement”, it only confirmed the converse of the statement; that it only had fingers in it. If not, why tell someone “Bi Ta Nan Ba Rami: In Ba Rami Mai Ya Kawo Zancensa?” There must be a Rami somewhere!
Still on ‘porting’, readers may recall a couple of years ago I considered the Hijra after witnessing how the Federal Government was frantically working in the South West, when the whole North was all but completely abandoned to its votes. The Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and the Lagos-Ibadan modern rail are testimonies that the government’s Ministers of Works and of Transportation know where they need to impress. Add to that the ongoing Second Niger Bridge between Onitsha and Asaba. Then compare these to the Mambilla Power Plant non-starter, or the perennially-elusive Kaduna-Kano modern rail. Port!
Once more, it is important to re-educate onlookers, especially those from the South, on why Kano continued to be tranquil over these past few days, despite the earth-shaking events that unfolded (as we also remained ‘calm’ during the Dollar-Videos episode).
First, Kano’s cosmopolitan nature accommodates all shades of opinions and, being a commercial centre, citizens have understood the damage riots can do to business. Therefore, except for the massive Boko Haram attacks of 2012 and 2014, there has not been a single violent communal or religious riot since Mallam Shekarau’s administration, as his Societal Reorientation Programme put a stop to that.
Secondly, the politics of Kano, courtesy of socialist-leaning NEPU and PRP and Mallam Aminu Kano, has generally been ‘a little to the left’, and seen to be ‘anti-feudal’. Individual emirs may be revered and loved and admired, but the institution is seen as many in Britain see their monarchy – past relic of ages gone. And then there is the Santsi Tendency embedded in Kano politics, founded by late Governor Rimi (and Ganduje is suspected to belong to it). ‘Yan Santsi are seen to be particularly anti-Sarauta. ‘Yan-Ta-Kife!
A certain Brutus has joined in the stabbing of Julius Caesar! Beware the Ides of March, and the Ides of 2023!
Allah Ya taimaki Sarki, Murabus, ported or deported!
