With Uche Nnadozie
The original Game of Thrones is a worldwide series of repute which is on its eighth season. The movie which is an adaptation of a fantasy novel entitled “A song of ice and Fire” was written by George R. R. Martins. The movie is produced by some of the best in Hollywood led by David Benioff, D.B Weiss, Carolyn Strauss among others. And it is staged in Northern Island, Croatia, Iceland, Spain, Malta and Morocco. This movie ranks the highest in terms of sales today evidently because of its rich content and drama. Perhaps it is that same drama and “rich” content that has motivated the game currently playing out in the throne of Kano. We all agree that Kano is an ancient city state, at least when viewed against the histories of other city states of Nigeria.
A lot has been said about Kano and its throne predicament in the last two weeks. Most of what has been said has principally addressed the issues around what Governor Abdullahi Ganduje has done or what he failed to do; and what Emir Muhammadu Sanusi (II) was said to have said or what politics he is said to have played. While all that is right, but let us look closely to see why the musical chairs in respect of the throne of Kano have become dirty. Being a major trading city, Kano is wealthy at least in Nigerian naira. Apart from the municipal area, Kano actually has 44 councils. In our country this means allocations to all the councils. This also means that the Emir is receives billions of naira every year to do anything of his fancy.
From the expenditure pattern of Sanusi, we can see clearly what must have motivated the palace coup in Kano. Money is the first motivation for the crisis in the Kano emirate council. The second motivation is simply ambition. The third is ego of state actors. Apparently many of the palace chiefs including the princes of Kano did not take kindly to the enthronement of the former CBN boss. A lot of these persons had begun eyeing just like Sanusi did the throne while Ado Bayero was hale and hearty. Some of them began maneuvering for the cool job in order to continue the “tradition” of their forebears. Son of Ado Bayero thought he had done enough among the kingmakers to be named by the Rabiu Kwakwanso government. But it was not to be.
From information gathered from the emirate, indeed Ado Sani Bayero was the preferred candidate for the throne by the kingmakers. So while the junior Bayero had the palace covered, there was another palace outside the Kano palace he didn’t. While he hobnobbed with the powers that be in Abuja at the time that also preferred him, he ignored the powers that be in Kano who were the real powers. It is the governor in consultation (or not) that names a new emir. It is possible that it is not as if Kwakwanso did not want him, it may just have been a thing about “the moment”. That moment was hostile to anyone that was chummy with Abuja. The rise of APC did not help matters and it was around then that the state governor crossed over to the APC from PDP. The politics of the moment therefore favoured Sanusi who had just been dismissed from the CBN.
Also the pressure mounted by APC leaders at the time as enthroning Sanusi implied a moral win for the fledgling opposition. More so as the PDP led Federal Government that sacked Sanusi showed clearly that it was interested in the jostling for the Kano throne. This game of thrones is very shifty. Today, the scenarios have changed. While Sanusi appear to be in the good books of the PDP and is said to have offered support to PDP’s candidate in the highly contested gubernatorial election, Ado Bayero is now in the good books of the APC government in the state. Protagonists in the jostle for the throne in Kano keep shifting allegiance both to partisan interests and individual preference. It appears the kingmakers have been rendered comatose. This is what happens when partisan interest trumps ordered tradition.
When tradition was at the top, matters such as choosing an emir led to the consultation of the gods or God. It was said that whatever God decided became the choice of the kingmakers. But the modern state structure detests such spiritual dalliance. The spirit, culture and tradition appear to be domiciled with the governor-the political head. This is our reality. Therefore, any prince who wants the throne is advised to court the governor not the kingmakers. In a place like Kano it becomes even more critical since the Kano throne is seen as an alternative to the government house because there was only one traditional ruler.
Now that the courts have intervened it is left to be seen where all the jostling will end. This whole brouhaha in Kano will do two things: make the emirate stronger or weaker. Already there isn’t much resistance to the decapitation of the emirate. Ado Bayero has accepted his Bichi transfer. I hear he is there on loan. He may well be returned to Kano if Sanusi fails to plot his graph as well as he did in 2014. I am not one of those who query the restructuring of the Kano emirate. Truth is there is really nothing wrong with it. Our traditional rulers have shown that they are all words and no action. Sanusi or any other ruler is more interested in the official funds that accrue to the palace than what the palace can do to promote culture, inclusiveness, education and economic development.
