Emir Muhammad Sanusi’s PhD -By Nurudeen Dauda

HRH Khalifa Dr Muhammad Sanusi II, CON, BSc Economics, MSc Economics, BA Islamic Studies & Sharia, and PhD Islamic Law has on the 21st of August, 2024 successfully defended his PhD thesis with “no corrections” on the topic: “Codification of Islamic Family Law as an Instrument of Social Reform: A Case Study of the Emirate of Kano and Comparison with the Kingdom of Morocco.”

In 2011, Dr Abdullahi Tasi’u Abubakar the then Daily Trust editor -at-large and a former BBC worker and now a Senior Lecturer and Director of PhD Programme in the Department of Journalism at City University of London obtained his PhD in Journalism and Mass Communications from the University of Westminster in London – with no corrections! (Daily Trust, December 23, 2011).

“Life is always a continuous process of learning and relearning. And for me, I had always believed, as they say, that we should not waste a crisis. So, anytime I have a crisis, it’s an opportunity to do something else. I was not idle in the last four years I was away from the royal duties. In fact, I had just completed writing a PhD thesis in Oxford University, London, a week before I returned to Kano “.(The Sun newspaper, July, 2024).

Emir Sanusi II has never “relented” in his effort of “confronting” our societal ills through his “comments” from his days as an “academic”, a “writer”, a “public intellectual”, a “social critique”, and a “banker”.

He had sometimes in 2017 drafted an Islamic Family Law for enactment by Kano State House of Assembly “aims” at addressing the issues of rampant divorce, forced marriage, underage married, domestic violence, abdication of parental responsibilities and taking additional wives by those who don’t have the financial resources etc., before he had misunderstanding with former governor Ganduje. (Kano Chronicle of Daily Trust, March 1, 2017).

How it began was that a divorcee went to the Palace and lodged a complaint against her ex- husband whom she had 10 children with. She wanted the Emir to compel her ex- husband who had abandoned his children. Deeply touched by the allegation, the Emir summoned both of them to his Palace. The man admitted that she was indeed his ex- wife whom he abandoned his children with her. The Emir asked for the reasons of his act and he replied that, he had another wife with 8 children to take care of. The Emir then asked about his occupation and he replied that he is a shoe-shiner. The Emir asked him, you mean you have 18 children and he replied yes your Highness. (Kano Chronicle of Daily Trust, March 1, 2017).

Emir Sanusi revealed that his divorcee’s story was just one out of the hundreds of cases that were being reported to the Emir’s Palace, Hisbah board, Courts and the Police stations in the state on daily basis.(Kano Chronicle of Daily Trust March 1, 2017).

Emir Sanusi who himself has four wives had sometimes ago urged wealthy individuals, politicians, Islamic scholars and traditional rulers those who had only one wife to get additional wives. He however added that, if you know, your salary cannot take care of more than one wife, don’t get additional wives that you would not feed well , clothes well or give them good shelter. We have heard series of complaints where a father forced his daughter to marry someone against her wish. (Kano Chronicle of Daily Trust, March 1, 2017).

No doubt our society has numerous problems which include hundreds of thousands of divorcees, hundreds of thousands of unmarried women, many cases of abdication of parental responsibilities, domestic violence, and massive illiteracy among others which using “legal” instruments alone without addressing socio-economic issues will hardly solve. In my thought, our problems are more of socio-economic issues which include : widespread poverty, massive Illiteracy, and warped interpretations of religious texts among others which “legal” instruments alone cannot address.

In my view, in Emir Sanusi’s attempt to provide “solution” to some of our societal problems which is a “responsibility” worth carrying out he should and or must find a “balance” between the use of “legal” and “socio-economic” approaches. The issue of taking additional wives without having financial capabilities is more of socio-economic issue. The issue of rampant divorcees in the society is a socio-economic issue which could be addressed through proper socialization, marriage counseling, and poverty alleviation.

Part of our societal problem is having multiple unmarried women in the society which is largely a socio-economic issue which may often lead to rampant “fornication” and “adultery” in the society. We need to get rid of poverty and some traditions associated with marriage which are doing more harm than good to us. We must “balance” our concerns for early “marriage” with that of early “fornication” . Forced marriage is an issue that could easily be addressed through the provision of massive literacy. On the problem of abdication of parental responsibilities we could best address it through poverty alleviation and massive literacy provision.

In my observation, the problem of our society is more of socio-economic than legal. Among all the socio -economic variables that make of our societal ills poverty! Poverty! And Poverty! Is at the heart of the problem. As much as His Highest needs the law as an instrument for social reform he should and or must collaborate with the political authorities at all levels of governments in addressing socio-economic issues first.

In conclusion, some lessons to learn from Emir Sanusi’s PhD are:(1) Social and or economic Status should not prevent one from acquiring further knowledge; (2) Age should not be an obstacle to learning; (3)Knowledge should not be sought for employment opportunity only; (4)There should be no position in the society too high for learning; and (5) Knowledge should not be sought for career progression only.

His Highest, please accept my best wishes and Congratulations!