Dethronment Saga; Silencing The Truth At a Time of Need -By Elijah Ojonicko Akoji

One may wonder and begin to ask what do we tell posterity, how do we explain to them that it was in our time that it was distroyed, how do we come out of this situation call the struggle for power instead of the struggle for improved infrastructure, improved medical health care facilities and good education, all we see today is the continues struggle for relevance in the corridor of power all in the name to influence, control and dictate.

Prior to this time, traditional rulers have been seen as a secred conclave of on touched royalty, one usually think the royal position is a traditional abode where no extanal persons be it government or international influence can penetrate because of the enclosedness and santity in all display. But the continue action of government over traditional institution shows that the conclave is subjected to the dictate of the constituted authority and power in charge, which has the power to remove and replace.

But to this end people still ask, with the resent trend of the actions of the state government over traditional rulers, this may make it become a political influence institution where by each government may come with his own traditional rulers which after his tenure in office either four years or eight years as the case may and go with them after office and a new one comes with his, since this has shown how pourous the traditional institution is and how dependant it his to the government which tend to empower the government to dethrone and appoint an traditional ruler.

Being a victim of this porous system, the just dethroned emir of Kano has over the years since assumption, been in control of the MIC and also has stood as a moral guide to the government with his constant reminder to the political elite about the wrongs going on in the system which is affecting the people,, this has in many ways attracted so many blame of which many believe as a traditional rulers his constant media reminder offends those to whom the statements is direct to.

It is said that his offenses is bridging part 3 section 12 of the Kano state Emirate law 2019 and if left unchecked will destroy the good and established image of the Emirate.

Since assention into the Emirate, the emir has been a moral guide and agent of truth which is targeted at the elite in the region particularly Kano, this he feel can be one of the best way in propelling change in the region considering the rate of out of school children both boys and girls, the high rate of divorce and domestic violence leading to the killing of many husbands by their wives here in the north as well as the almajiri issue which he sees as carelessness of parent being the factor to that. He has ever since assumption into the Royal position, held truth as his cardinal purpose and mission so as to sanitise the evil going on in the region this has led to so many hatred and calling of names by people of the north particularly the people of Kano.

This is not the first time the removal of an emir will be happening, his own grand father grandfather Alhaji Muhammed Sanusi was deposed by Sir Ahmadu Bello after 10 years of reign. Sanusi Lamido is not the first son or grandson of a deposed traditional ruler to regain the throne of his father or that of his grandfather.

In a country where truth is a death sentence, personality of his kind could only be embarrassed since there is no better way to eliminate him, his courage is one thing many hate, but come to think about it, could this also be a revenge to riddicle Kwankwaso who installed Sanusi Lamido in June 2014, just to show that he the governor is the Lord of the land and the master decision maker, though it is a question but it is so bad to recall that this decision could be linked to so many anticedents which one could trace to be what has led to the decision of removing the emir.

It is said that you can kill a man but you can never stop the truth from coming to you since you still have a conscience, at a time when Nigeria need the kinds of Lamido Sanusi as the mouth piece of the poor, the elite sees it as a treath to their office which may affect their continuous aspiration of retaining power and the best decision is to remove and silence him, one won’t be surprised if the next thing is investigation into when he was the CBN and the traced corruption. The elite can do anything to frustrate a man they can not kill, this they see as the best way to make him loose relevance and purpose.

However, Nigeria still need men of his kind if we must move forward, the different Emirates have been politically used over the years even till now, for reasons be that the government are the one paying the Emirates so therefore they must dance to the tune, for this reason many are just mouth seal to the salient happenings affecting their people to whom they owe accountability.

The implication of an act, sends the wrong signal into the future there by permitting so many ills and wrongdoings, traditional leaders now may for the purpose of not loosing their prestigious position, prefer to be silent no matter the danger and suffering their people may be exposed to they will prefer to be in the position of rulership than standing for their people no matter the hard time.

As a nation, we must be careful as regards the decisions we make today out of power display and supremacy, governance is temporal and it’s not forever, but a single damage may leave an external scare that will always hunt us in the future.

Elijah Ojonicko Akoji
brightakoji7@gmail.com
Currently an MSc Student of
Mass Communication
Bayero University Kano.