His Eminence, Sultan Sa’ad Abubakar
By Zailani Bappa
The kind of politicians 1999 democracy has born for us are way out of our ordinary expectations. Nigerians were wild with jubilation as the new democratic rule was ushered in with a lot of promises to change the lives of the people for a better one. As more cash came into the coffers of the Federation account, a lot of new goodies initially began to manifest such as increased salary for civil servants, more infrastructural developments, etc.
However, as the so-called democratic rule was sustained longer than ever before, the successive democratically elected leaders became increasingly arrogant, greedy and some kind of demagogues. Presidency became more detached from the people, State Governors became Emperors and the only solace for the common man which was the Local government system were systematically destroyed. But these are issues of discussion for another day.
What concern this piece of write-up today is the carelessly arrogant manner in which State Governors treat the traditional institutions, especially here in the Northern part of the Country. We have not yet come out of the agonizing and embarrassing actions and what follows in the case of Kano Emirate Council that this morning I read a disturbing story coming out of Sokoto State. The news indicated that the State Government is making the State Legislature to enact a law that will systematically strip the Sultan of his role as a leader.
More worrisome is the trailing reports that began to appear to the effect that the bigger ploy is meant to lead to the deposition of the Sultan in the long run. MURIC, according to reports, has warned the Sokoto state Government of the grave consequences that will follow any attempt to depose the Sultan.
If all these reports are true, then, someone should advise the Sokoto state Government to tread carefully. The Sultan is not just an Emir like the others. His position in the realm of Nigeria’s Islamic community is far more greater than what the Sokoto state Government can contain. The State Governors especially, must realize that they are elected to serve the people not to exercise satanic authority over the people and what they all cherish. It is enough they are accused of plundering public wealth at will. It is going beyond the border line of they will take the habit of pricking on the very conscience of the people in this manner. There are so many things the Governors can do to divert the attention of the public away from their non-performance and accused squandermania other than to start beaming light of mischief on the traditional institution. As for the Sultan, his relevance is not confined to Sokoto state. His tormentors must be ready to contain the anger of all Nigerian Muslims.
(From Bappa’s Facebook page)
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