It is no more news that
the controversial Emir of Kano, Alhaji Sanusi Lamido Sanusi has finally met
with President Jonathan Goodluck in a goodwill visit to break the Ramadan fast
in Aso Rock villa. What it portends really is what I would love to discuss.
The tussle and power
play between both parties can’t be over-emphasised after the former reeled out
misgivings and misalignment of monies supposedly meant for the NNPC being unremitted.
Banters came out flying from overzealous SA’s of the President back to social bloggers
apologetic to the politically inclined then head of the CBN. To cut the long
story short, Sanusi was quickly axed from his position on quickly cooked up charges
of financial misappropriation himself and the handwritten on the wall spoke
differently from the one in the book.
He recluse himself to
the background immediately after the incidence of his passport being seized and immediately released at
the international airport and after some activism by his friend and close
confidant Nasir El’ Rufai, Lamido Sanusi left the scene with a parting shot that he will contest all
the misgivings against him in the court of competent jurisdiction.
He however had eyes for
something grander, more glorious, and more spiritual than the helm of affair of
the Central Bank of Nigeria. He never kept secret his desire to be the Emir of
Kano and in all the interview he granted in prints or visuals, his eyes lit up anytime
the question was raised. Sanusi is a man with values. He could be harsh
sometimes, dogged mostly when his values are threatened but he lived a life resplendent
with fervor, energy and transparency.
I remember my brother, Pastor
Abayomi Atoloye, who worked with him closely before he resigned as a director
in CBN in 2012, spoke glowingly about him and how he usually walked into his
office most mornings to share a banter and drink coffee. He was not tribalistic, he was a realist and an ardent doer and preacher of hard work.
So what does the visit from the new Emir of Kano to the sitting President of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria mean? Especially since they used to be foes (I use ‘used’ because with this
visit it means the sword has been sheathed ‘assumingly’) and most glaringly, since Jonathan is from the South South.
I hope this visit means
the North and the South can seriously see each other’s fight and struggle as
meaningless and baseless. At the end we are all brothers and no one has
monopoly of violence as means of dialogue. It also mean that man’s search for self and personal
gratification becomes useless as soon as an assignment bigger than such man has
been placed on him. Sanusi swore all heavens to fight the presidency over his
hurried and dishonourable discharge from duty; but that was before he got even
a bigger assignment which was to be the spiritual custodian of the Hausa people
and a bigger figure for the Muslim community in Nigeria.
This visit connotes
also on the part of the President, his magnanimity and maturity as a leader of
a country to overlook the many media banter and personal slights leveled
towards him during the brouhaha and still shook hands and promised cohesive
governance with traditional rulers. The Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar III must
be duly praised for convening this meeting and brokering peace between two
warring leaders; because no meaningful development can be achieved in an
atmosphere of fight and prolonged disagreement.
The leaders have shook
hands, it is time we also as citizens and followers shake hands and together
find lasting solutions to the many issues that bedevil us. Sanusi is a wise man;
he realised that his personal battles must be discontinued now that he has the
burden of monarchy to shoulder. Would he rather allow his ego to supersede the position
of a supreme spiritual head whose morals and tenets should denounce such acts
as pride and egocentric attitudes? I guess his visit to the President’s Aso
Rock shows it all. A man who knows when to stop; when to sheath the sword and a
man who puts public interest first before personal consideration.
Some have said that he
was scared of the power of the presidency that’s why he came to pay homage to
Jonathan. I say that is far from the truth. The popularity of the GEJ candidacy
in the North is at the lowest right now and Sanusi could simply have leveraged
on that and keep fostering hatred towards him but he rather towed the
honourable path of respecting the first office of the Federation. And you know
what they say about respect? It is reciprocal.
Till I find joy in
writing another inspired article, please bear with my long hiatus.
Shalom!
Good article. I like it
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