Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi’s recent criticism of northern leaders is the root of a heated controversy over the region’s economic challenges; report Associate Editor, Sam Egburonu, Abdulgafar Alabelewe, Kaduna and Kolade Adeyemi, Kano
It was designed to be a sober economic summit, Wednesday, April 5, 2017, in Kaduna State. But by the time the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi 11, concluded his paper on the theme, ‘Promoting investments in the midst of economic challenges,’ a socio-economic and political wild fire was lit. Until this morning, the fire is still burning across the wide savannah plains and beyond, as the intellectuals and political leaders from the region respond with near lethal passion, either for or against the royal personage.
While some applaud the Emir’s courage, calling him a rare, frank leader, others allege mischief, declaring him guilty of the same crime he accused northern leaders. The verbal crossfire has been hot and intense.
What Sanusi said
Sanusi’s lecture could be described as a bold, though precise attempt to uncover the root of the socio-economic difficulties in the northern part of Nigeria, in spite of its large population and the region’s political advantage over the years. Adopting a rather scholarly approach and quoting from UNDP human development report, the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) criticised northern leaders for discouraging attitudes and activities that, according to him, would have helped to develop the region. Alleging that the leaders failed to sufficiently impact on the common people in the region, he pointed out that, as a result, the North-West and the North-East remained the poorest parts of the world.
“We are living in denial. The North-West and the North-East, demographically, constitute the bulk of Nigeria’s population, but look at human development indices, look at the number of children out of school, look at adult literacy, look at maternal mortality, look at infant mortality, look at girl-child completion rate, look at income per capita, the North-East and the North-West Nigeria are among the poorest parts of the world,” he said, adding, “As far back as 2000, I looked at the numbers, Borno and Yobe states, UNDP figures: Borno and Yobe states, if they were a country on their own, were poorer than Niger, Cameroon and Chad.”
Based on these, Sanusi said, “Break Nigeria into its component parts and these parts of the country are among the poorest, if it were a country. And we do not realise we are in trouble. Nobody saw this because we were looking at Nigeria as a country that averages the oil-rich Niger Delta, the industrial and commercial-rich Lagos, the commercially viable South-East, and you have an average.”
On how the region can ‘leap forward developmentally’, the Emir advised other northern leaders to educate girls. According to him, the northern Muslims had adopted an interpretation of culture and religion that was rooted in the 13th century mindset, which refused to recognise that the rest of the Muslim world had moved on.
“We need to understand the roots of the problem of northern Nigeria. Burning books, it happened in Kano. What is the crime of those books? They were writing about (love), and love apparently is supposed to be a bad word.
“In a society where you don’t love your women and you don’t love your children, you allow them to beg, you beat up your women, why should anyone talk about love?
“We have adopted an interpretation of our culture and our religion that is rooted in the 13th century mindset that refuses to recognise that the rest of the Muslim world has moved on.
“Today in Malaysia, you wake up and divorce your wife; that is fine. But you give her 50 per cent of all the wealth you acquired since you married her. It is a Muslim country. In Nigeria, you wake up after 20 years of marriage, you say to your wife, ‘I divorce you’, and that’s it.
“Other Muslim nations have pushed forward girl-child education; they’ve pushed forward science and technology. They have pushed forward the arts. We have this myth in northern Nigeria, where we try to create an Islamic society that never existed.
“We are fighting culture, we are fighting civilisation. We must wage an intellectual war, because Islam is not univocal. There are many voices, there are many interpretations, there are many viewpoints, and we have for too long allowed the ascendancy of the most conservative viewpoints. The consequences of that are that there are certain social problems,” he said.
The monarch also frowned at Governor Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara State over his dismissal of the cause of meningitis that killed over 200 people from his state as a punishment from God for the people’s sin of fornication. This, he said, was unfortunate, even as he faulted the economic model of President Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government, lamenting that the federal government was borrowing unsustainably.
Reactions
While many have responded to the comments the royal father made concerning federal government’s borrowing and Yari’s blame of divine punishment for meningitis that is wreaking havoc in the country, the responses so far over his criticism of northern leaders have elicited more passion and verbal fire.
First Executive Governor of the old Kaduna State, Alhaji Abdulkadir Balarabe Musa, for example, said the Emir was right, pointing out that the former Central Bank Governor understands the nature of capitalism.
“Uneven development is a direct impact of capitalism and it is inevitable because capitalism controls development in this country. It is the same all over the world. You find some areas are developed; some other areas are not developed.
“If you want to bring about even development, you have to adopt a non-capitalist system of development. So, the Emir understands that, and I agree with him that this is the case, that capitalism is the type of system adopted in Nigeria and the leadership produced by the system. And the consequence of this is uneven development.
“Yes, I agree with the Emir of Kano that, if those states were to be nations, they cannot survive on their own. There are nations like that which depend largely on imperialist countries,” he said.
Also, frontline northern statesman, Alhaji Tanko Yakasai, told The Nation in Kano that “the statement credited to the Emir of Kano, Malam Mohammad Sanusi 11, that the north is developmentally backward, has been an age-long agitation.”
Yakasai maintained that the Northern Elements Progressive Union (NEPU) has been in the forefront over the lack of human and infrastructural development in the region.
According to him, NEPU has been pioneering the clamour, dating back to 1951, that women in the north can vote and be voted for by acquiring the highest level of education.
‘’I am one of the premium progressive and active leaders of Northern Elements Progressive Union (NEPU) that advocated the right of women to vote and be voted for by acquiring the highest level of education through Girl-child education for the development of the region.
‘’If you look at most of the nations, where Muslims constitute majority, like Indonesia, Pakistan, Malaysia and other Arab countries, including Egypt and Saudi Arabia, women have limitless opportunities to acquire education; therefore leaders in the northern part of the country, who feel that women should not be educated, are not speaking from the Islamic point of view.
‘’Women approximately constitute about 50 percent of Nigeria’s population, anybody who is thinking that that percentage of women population in the country should be left out is not only any enemy of progress in Nigeria but an enemy of progress as a whole, as well as the nation’s advancement.”
Yakasai noted that denying women their right to acquire modern education had actually contributed to the backwardness of the north.
‘’We have been advocating this position, long before the Emir of Kano was born, so the Emir is only backing our position, which we had decades ago,’’ he said.
Yakasai, who was a Special Adviser to ex-President Shehu Shagari in the Second Republic, also said, “another point, where I agreed with the position of the Emir is where he advocated that mosques should be used as schools to help in providing education for the people of Northern Nigeria.
‘’However, where I would like to adjust my position of the Emir in this regard, is that the mosque should be used to cater for primary school leavers, where they can acquire educational requirements for admission into tertiary institutions in the country.”
The veteran politician also appealed to all traditional rulers in northern Nigeria to dedicate a substantial portion of the percentage they are given in their allocation of local government revenue in their areas of authority for use to establish universities and other tertiary institutions for the advancement of education in northern Nigeria.
He said, if this could be done by the traditional rulers, the north would bridge the gap with their southern compatriots in a matter of between 10 and 15 years, adding that this is an obligation our traditional rulers should morally owe to their subjects.
But in his reaction in a telephone chat on Friday night, a member of the Second Republic House of Representatives, Dr. Junaid Mohammed, frowned at the comments of the Emir of Kano, describing it as “bogus and mischievous in intent.” He told The Nation: “I have not read, in full, the comments made by the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Sanusi, but from what I have read and the reactions from some informed minds that I respect a lot, I think there is an evidence of over generalisation on the part of the Emir. Yes, he may have evidence of economic performance or non-performance but I think the real intent of the comment was mischief because he has not identified the northern leaders he accused.
“For me, if leaders of the north are to be blamed for the region’s backwardness, the Emir of Kano is obviously one of the leaders to be blamed. As one of the privileged few to emerge the managing director of one of the biggest banks in the country, later the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and now the Emir of Kano, if northern elites are to be accused of failing the common people in the region, Mallam Sanusi is clearly guilty also. I think the underdevelopment he is talking about was as a result of capitalism, and as the Central Bank Governor, it is obvious he is guilty.
“My position is that the northern elites are not different from the elites of other regions in Nigeria. Take the case of the Niger Delta for example. I think the solution to Nigerian problem is for the elite to reach a consensus to work for the interest of common Nigerians. I don’t believe northern elites are different from other elites in Nigeria. So, I can assure you that the conduct of the elites of northern Nigeria towards their people is not different from the conduct of the elites of other regions in Nigeria towards their people.
“So, I think the accusation the Emir levelled against northern elites could also be levelled against elites of other sections of the country. That is why I think the idea of singling out the northern elite for this allegation is bogus and mischievous in intent. I also think that those who think they have all the answers to Nigerian problems and those who are desirous of political power should resign their present positions to contest for elective positions, both to test their popularity and to prove how successful they can be.”
Perhaps, the controversy has just begun.
