Re - the “dethronement” of the Emir of Kano

67 views
Skip to first unread message

Cornelius Hamelberg

unread,
Mar 9, 2020, 8:13:25 PM3/9/20
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com


How are the mighty fallen!

My initial reaction to this shock announcement is summarised in in one word: Perfidy !

Perfidy, committed by the powers that be.

Since his coronation as His Holiness the Emir of Kano, we have grown to like, respect, admire, appreciate and venerate both the dignity of the office and the office-holder Muhammadu Sanusi II as the second most important Muslim Leader in Nigeria, second only to the Sultan of Sokoto

My initial reaction was, who has the power to “dethrone” the Emir of Kano”?

Who has arrogated to himself/ herself/ themselves that kind of power?

Indeed, my first reaction was la hawla wala quwwata illa billah !

Because the idea of “dethroning” His Highness the Emir of Kano was as patently absurd as reading in the UK Guardian on the 1st of April (April Fool’s Day) or any other day in  the year, God forbid, that some drunken Nigerian governor, sailor, mad president or incompetent prime minister, some humbug like Robert Mugabe in drag disguise or reeling in a drunken stupor, still bristling with illusions of grandeur and showing the last signs of his Napoleonic complex, a resurrected His Excellency, President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor Idi Amin Dada, VC, DSO, MC, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Seas and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular  - in his tepid imagination had announced that he had just “dethroned“ Her Majesty Queen Elisabeth II or the Archbishop of Canterbury or indeed His Holiness Pope Francis 1, on some spurious, nonsense, personal, whimsical grounds.

The dethronement of the Emir of Kano, now a fait accompli is a tragedy of more than Shakespearean proportions and the one particular fault – if indeed in that position he had any, must have been the perception among the sleepy, go-slow arch-conservative intelligentsia who obviously bear him malice because they see in him a modernist  - and the danger was very clearly written – was writ large,  and that’s what we all read  - as reported -  Muhammadu Sanusi II’s far-ranging comments  when ” he moderated a paper titled ‘The role of universities in nation-building’ presented by Dr Usman Bugaji at the maiden convocation of the Federal University, Gusau “  at which the Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido said ,  “ Polygamy is causing poverty and  backwardness in the Muslim North

No doubt, this critique coming from the Emir, must have drawn some bad blood.  His advocacy that education is the sine qua non for the much-needed accelerated development of the mostly Muslim North, has obviously not further endeared him to the power brokers up there.

The arch-Muslim conservatives and traditionalist must have seen the Emir’s critique of wanton polygamy as an attack on the cherished right of a man to have more than one wife, a very important Islamic value. From that point on and even before that when he said that the unprotected should have the right to protect themselves against Boko Haram we must assume that  from that point on he must have fallen foul of some of the more traditional powers that be.  The last straw  could have been his allegedly supporting a PDP politician when it’s Buhari’s APC that is in power  – and even before that, as Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, the-powers-that-be didn’t like it when he raised the alarm that $ 20 Billion was missing from the state treasury.

 And now we see the result, the cumulative result of all this catching up with him finally:  his unceremonious dethronement.

May  Allah subhanahu wa ta'alaI  reward for all the good that he has done, forgive him his faults and grant him  more sabr  and even more iman. May the Almighty’s continued guidance and protection, Insha’Allah,  as he continues along the honourable path of  ihdinas siraatal mustaqeem

Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju

unread,
Mar 10, 2020, 3:39:06 AM3/10/20
to usaafricadialogue
amen!

beautiful summation, Cornelius

may Sanusi position himself well to fulfill his life's mission.

i doubt he has found the right position for that yet 

--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfric...@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDial...@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialo...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/CAC50OP-TFi4ix69m9nyVemBJBnHNfEH5e%3DYgwHxfWeAG3xfwwA%40mail.gmail.com.

Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM

unread,
Mar 10, 2020, 6:07:40 AM3/10/20
to USA Africa Dialogue Series
Mazi Cornelius,
The only sentence I think that you should have written here should have been; "May Allah forgive him his faults" and I would have said "amen" or is it "amin".

Anyway, the dethronement is an intra-class squabble, it has nothing to do with us at Arugo Motor Park Owerri.

By the way, no blood is blue, all blood are red.

CAO.

Cornelius Hamelberg

unread,
Mar 10, 2020, 8:32:57 AM3/10/20
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com

Amen. Amen.

Amin.

Abu Dharr al-Ghifari, regarded as Islam’s first socialist was banished to the desert by the Caliph caliph Uthman ibn Affan because he raised his voice against corruption and nepotism, that the Baitu Mai al-Muslimin ( the Muslim’s national treasury) was being “misused”. Not a far cry from Lamido Sanusi raising the hue and cry that $20 Billion was missing from Nigeria*s oil revenue., the people’s money.

I suppose he will return to the financial sector, as an investment banker. I can’t see the Hon. Lamido Sanusi the deposed Emir of Kano spending the rest of his life in exile in some little corner in the desert, in Nigeria. He is far too dynamic for that kind of containment - and- talking about any particular fault, we have not heard him disdainfully declaim like Coriolanus:

“You common cry of curs! whose breath I hate

As reek o' the rotten fens, whose loves I prize

As the dead carcasses of unburied men

That do corrupt my air, I banish you!”

Even as we breathe, right now the price of oil has sunk to circa $37 per barrel thus affecting Independent Nigeria’s oil-dependent economy…

This is a representative example of the new impetus and the somewhat expanded role, combining the functions of both religious leader and to some extent political spokesperson that Muhammadu Sanusi II brought to the office as Emir of Kano, this address: How to stop Manufacturing Poverty

Let us also pray for the new Emir, that he will be successful in discharging his duties.

Is this still  the situation for the new Emir too: The Kano Emirate split into five ?


OLAYINKA AGBETUYI

unread,
Mar 10, 2020, 8:33:12 AM3/10/20
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Indeed the British Monarchy has continued to be relevant because it continues to reinvent and modernise itself.

The hope of modernizing the emirate system ( and the practice of Islam in Nigeria) is now gone.  The state government found itself between the two evils of curtailing the historic power of the Emir of Kano to spite the over westernized Sanusi II and removing  him to preserve the Islamic mystique of the position.  It chose the latter.  We must also remember his presentation in Oxford about reforming the tenets of Islam as practiced in Nigeria to which I responded that this can only be done with the accent of the authorities in Saudi Arabia ( who would not grant Nigeria such accent.)

He may still continue to campaign for the modernization of Islam (although fraught with dangers) as a private citizen and even enlist as presidential candidate on that platform among other modernization.

OAA



Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.


-------- Original message --------
From: Cornelius Hamelberg <hamelberg...@gmail.com>
Date: 10/03/2020 00:20 (GMT+00:00)
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re - the “dethronement” of the Emir of Kano

Boxbe This message is eligible for Automatic Cleanup! (hamelberg...@gmail.com) Add cleanup rule | More info

Chikwendu Ukaegbu

unread,
Mar 10, 2020, 6:39:55 PM3/10/20
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Interesting. I didn't even know that this recent 2019 speech and interview by Sanusi existed before I posted my view of him on this forum 2 days ago. I did my post based on my content analysis of him before he became Emir. This video shows that he is still the same man. However, he appears constrained by the paraphernalia of his office as Emir.
Thanks Cornelius for posting this.

C Ukaegbu

Cornelius Hamelberg

unread,
Mar 10, 2020, 6:39:55 PM3/10/20
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com

Lord Agbetuyi,

Indeed, God Save The Queen!

After such faith and optimism about the British Monarchy we don’t have to sink into this kind of hopeless pessimism: “The hope of modernizing the emirate system (and the practice of Islam in Nigeria) is now gone”

Even if the deposed Emir of Kano was a personification of what he thought or still thinks is the much-needed reform and modernisation of the Office he held, it doesn’t mean that now that he’s gone, all hope of modernisation has gone with him. (There’s a Yoruba proverb that says, if you go to a place where people are running with just one leg and you start running with both your  legs,  if you’re not careful, you’ll wind up with an amputation like “Toby”/ Kunta  Kinte.  

Maybe, the former Emir’s most grievous fault has been that he did or does not believe in festina lente and that must have irritated the hell out of  Kano’s traditional go-slow conservative elite and elitists who must have been regarding him as an upstart and just waiting for the opportunity to cut him down to size. I just heard on the BBC “Focus on Africa” that he has” accepted” his dethronement as “the will of God”.  That’s Islam for you: Qadr ( fate

 Thanks for the reference to Muhammadu Sanusi II ‘s  Oxford address “ The Thomas Hodgkin Memorial Lecture: Tradition, Modernization, and Reform: The Institution of Emir as Change Agent”. This unbelieving Thomas would like to hear exactly what it is that he said in that lecture and if indeed he actually had such ambitions or talked about “modernising” or” reforming” the religion of al-Islam.  In some of the Shia-Sunni debates, the Sunnis have often quoted  Surah al-Maidah : 3 :

“Forbidden unto you (for food) are carrion and blood and swine flesh, and that which hath been dedicated unto any other than Allah, and the strangled, and the dead through beating, and the dead through falling from a height, and that which hath been killed by (the goring of) horns, and the devoured of wild beasts, saving that which ye make lawful (by the death-stroke), and that which hath been immolated unto idols. And (forbidden is it) that ye swear by the divining arrows. This is an abomination. This day are those who disbelieve in despair of (ever harming) your religion; so, fear them not, fear Me! This day have I perfected your religion for you and completed My favour unto you, and have chosen for you as religion al-Islam. Whoso is forced by hunger, not by will, to sin: (for him) lo! Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.”

With great emphasis on the meaning of Arabic words translated as  “perfected” and “completed.

”The Shia argue that the doors of Ijtihad were closed to the Sunnis by 900 C.E. – and still remain closed.

Ashk Dahlen (an old friend) has addressed the matter in this his classic: Islamic Law, Epistemology and Modernity: Legal Philosophy in Contemporary Iran

Abdolkarim Soroush has also been addressing some of these issues for several decades now.

 Things have changed quite a bit since the times of Prophet Muhammad, salallahu alaihi wa salaam; for instance, people now travel by Nigerian Airways and by Pan Am to the annual Hajj

I don’t know, but I doubt that any “assent “ is needed from the Saudis for Nigerian Islam or indeed the other adaptations to flourish  - in the  Sudan  and in Senegal the  Sufi Brotherhoods play a very important role, in the latter the Marabout  and  Maraboutism  is an essential part of the culture  - and this I believe is frowned upon by the strict Salafist definitions and understanding of  according to Islam, the most unforgivable sin : Shirk  ( idol worship, polytheism seeking help from other than Allah) )  The Salafi frown on Sufism  - because of some Sufi doctrines  ( e.g. Al-Arabi’s) and also because of the ofttimes excessive veneration accorded some of the Sufi Sheikh…

You mischievously speculate that “He (the former Emir) may still continue to campaign for the modernization of Islam (although fraught with dangers) as a private citizen and even enlist as presidential candidate on that platform among other modernization.”

 You obviously don’t wish him well.  Anyway, no worries. Lamido Sanusi is a lot wiser than taking the sleeping lion by the tail…


Abolaji Adekeye

unread,
Mar 10, 2020, 6:39:55 PM3/10/20
to Cornelius Hamelberg
 Christopher Hitchens' chapter on Jessica Mitford in Arguably begins with this recollection:
It is said that, just before the Sino-Soviet split, Nikita Khrushchev had a tense meeting with Zhou Enlai at which he told the latter that he now understood the problem. “I am the son of coal miners,” he said. “You are the descendant of feudal mandarins. We have nothing in common.” “Perhaps we do,” murmured his Chinese antagonist. “What?” blustered Khrushchev. “We are,” responded Zhou, “both traitors to our class.” 

My sympathies are with SLS but he knows the fate of a gadfly that threatens the repose of a shepherd. Abubakr Rimi denied calling Ado Bayero, whose son has now been enthroned as the new emir of Kano, a civil servant but emphatically called him a mere public officer who is paid from the public coffers and whose appointment is at the pleasure of the elected governor.

OLAYINKA AGBETUYI

unread,
Mar 10, 2020, 7:28:02 PM3/10/20
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Oga Cornelious.

I think you may be right Nigeria does not need the assent of Saudi Arabia which is also slowly reforming ( I think they just conceeded last year their women could drive)  After all the Aladura churches in Nigeria did not seek the blessings of Rome or London to set up shop.I still think the Oxford  piece should first have been delivered in Saudi Arabia, Quatar or some other Muslim nation before going West.

I also agree Sanusi II's cardunal sin was lack of tact and diplomacy.  Had he brought the Sultan along with a series of initiatory personal letters rather than appear to be going it alone their charge of insubordination would not stick and the two of them would not then be dethroned.  He certainly left his flanks wide open by not collectivising his goals

I think Sanusi has let out the genie of Islamic reforms out of the bottle and it can no longer be ignored in the longer term.  It is the modalities that are now the question as well as the pace.

OAA



Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.
-------- Original message --------
From: Cornelius Hamelberg <hamelberg...@gmail.com>
Date: 10/03/2020 22:49 (GMT+00:00)
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re - the “dethronement” of the Emir of Kano

Boxbe This message is eligible for Automatic Cleanup! (hamelberg...@gmail.com) Add cleanup rule | More info

Lord Agbetuyi,

Indeed, God Save The Queen!

After such faith and optimism about the British Monarchy we don’t have to sink into this kind of hopeless pessimism: “The hope of modernizing the emirate system (and the practice of Islam in Nigeria) is now gone”

Even if the deposed Emir of Kano was a personification of what he thought or still thinks is the much-needed reform and modernisation of the Office he held, it doesn’t mean that now that he’s gone, all hope of modernisation has gone with him. (There’s a Yoruba proverb that says, if you go to a place where people are running with just one leg and you start running with both your  legs,  if you’re not careful, you’ll wind up with an amputation like “Toby”/ Kunta  Kinte.  

Maybe, the former Emir’s most grievous fault has been that he did or does not believe in festina lente and that must have irritated the hell out of  Kano’s traditional go-slow conservative elite and elitists who must have been regarding him as an upstart and just waiting for the opportunity to cut him down to size. I just heard on the BBC “Focus on Africa” that he has” accepted” his dethronement as “the will of God”.  That’s Islam for you: Qadr ( fate

 Thanks for the reference to Muhammadu Sanusi II ‘s  Oxford address “ The Thomas Hodgkin Memorial Lecture: Tradition, Modernization, and Reform: The Institution of Emir as Change Agent”. This unbelieving Thomas would like to hear exactly what it is that he said in that lecture and if indeed he actually had such ambitions or talked about “modernising” or” reforming” the religion of al-Islam.  In some of the Shia-Sunni debates, the Sunnis have often quoted  Surah al-Maidah : 3 :

“Forbidden unto you (for food) are carrion and blood and swine flesh, and that which hath been dedicated unto any other than Allah, and the strangled, and the dead through beating, and the dead through falling from a height, and that which hath been killed by (the goring of) horns, and the devoured of wild beasts, saving that which ye make lawful (by the death-stroke), and that which hath been immolated unto idols. And (forbidden is it) that ye swear by the divining arrows. This is an abomination. This day are those who disbelieve in despair of (ever harming) your religion; so, fear them not, fear Me! This day have I perfected your religion for you and completed My favour unto you, and have chosen for you as religion al-Islam. Whoso is forced by hunger, not by will, to sin: (for him) lo! Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.”

With great emphasis on the meaning of Arabic words translated as  “perfected” and “completed.

”The Shia argue that the doors of Ijtihad were closed to the Sunnis by 900 C.E. – and still remain closed.

Ashk Dahlen (an old friend) has addressed the matter in this his classic: Islamic Law, Epistemology and Modernity: Legal Philosophy in Contemporary Iran

Abdolkarim Soroush has also been addressing some of these issues for several decades now.

 Things have changed quite a bit since the times of Prophet Muhammad, salallahu alaihi wa salaam; for instance, people now travel by Nigerian Airways and by Pan Am to the annual Hajj

I don’t know, but I doubt that any “assent “ is needed from the Saudis for Nigerian Islam or indeed the other adaptations to flourish  - in the  Sudan  and in Senegal the  Sufi Brotherhoods play a very important role, in the latter the Marabout  and  Maraboutism  is an essential part of the culture  - and this I believe is frowned upon by the strict Salafist definitions and understanding of  according to Islam, the most unforgivable sin : Shirk  ( idol worship, polytheism seeking help from other than Allah) )  The Salafi frown on Sufism  - because of some Sufi doctrines  ( e.g. Al-Arabi’s) and also because of the ofttimes excessive veneration accorded some of the Sufi Sheikh…

You mischievously speculate that “He (the former Emir) may still continue to campaign for the modernization of Islam (although fraught with dangers) as a private citizen and even enlist as presidential candidate on that platform among other modernization.”

 You obviously don’t wish him well.  Anyway, no worries. Lamido Sanusi is a lot wiser than taking the sleeping lion by the tail…


On Tue, 10 Mar 2020 at 13:33, OLAYINKA AGBETUYI <yagb...@hotmail.com> wrote:

--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfric...@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDial...@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialo...@googlegroups.com.

Cornelius Hamelberg

unread,
Mar 11, 2020, 2:43:26 AM3/11/20
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com

Lord Agbetuyi ,

You think that” the Oxford piece should first have been delivered in Saudi Arabia, Qatar or some other Muslim nation before going West.”?

Perish the thought! You know, and the Emir knows too, that brave as he is at home in Kano, he wouldn’t dare to go and lecture Prince Mohammed bin Salman and the oil sheikhs in Saudi Arabia that they should stop dragging their feet with regard to reform, modernisation and the diversification of the economy. He knows and you too know that “Discretion is the better part of valour”. In this case it would be a matter of adab (decorum) and he should not like to outstay his welcome in the birthplace of al- Islam.

Indeed, for various reasons, there have been many before Muhammadu Sanusi II who “let out the genie of Islamic reforms out of the bottle” and it all came to nought. Their time has not yet come.

But I am optimistic, because, (and this is not Quranic ):

“And slowly answer'd Arthur from the barge:

"The old order changeth, yielding place to new,

And God fulfils Himself in many ways,

Lest one good custom should corrupt the world.”

However, when the now deposed Emir said that poverty in the Islamic North was due to the sacred Islamic institution of polygamy (for all kinds of practical sociological reasons) - those directly affected, indeed the many that came into this world as a result of polygamy, and many of the current practitioners of the halal polygamy must have felt resentment towards the Emir for expressing what they could perceive as anti-polygamy and anti-Islam criticism.

To begin with, Rasulullah , salallahu alaihi wa salaam , who is the role model for all Muslims, said to his Sahaba , and this is a sahih hadith :

The best of you is the one who is best to his wife, and I am the best of you to my wives.”

The  peaceful, calm and dignified way in which Muhammadu Sanusi II has handled his “dethronement “, is very impressive, not vengeful. I salute him.

 BTW, do the Aladura churches dispense the Eucharist? I ask because some time ago I read a poem  which featured a line talking about ” the holy communion of cassava bread and palm wine “ – maybe  a concession and adaptation to local preferences/ taste that should fit in nicely with what the theologians refer to as “contextualisation

 

 


Chikwendu Ukaegbu

unread,
Mar 11, 2020, 2:43:26 AM3/11/20
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com

OLAYINKA AGBETUYI

unread,
Mar 11, 2020, 9:13:18 AM3/11/20
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com
I attended Aladura churches fleetingly as a strappling lad  ( I also upon graduation once accompanied my father on a visit to the legendary juju music ace I.K.Dairo and we worshipped in his compound Aladura chapel) and I can confirm they administer "onje ale oluwa" which is the localized Eucharist.

I see what you mean by the ire of products of polygamy.  Reminds me of a woman who was the product of the second wife in aoolygamist setting who fought her husband to a standstill and left him because he had another woman and child besides her.  The Yoruba say "she who has a child by us is now more than our concubine".  That is, it means the family just got expanded (its the man's responsibility to care for the new born.)

I think someone quoted Sanusi Il saying he supported Sharia because that is what northerners wanted and upbraided Kwankwanso for dragging his foot in implementing it.  I can understand democracy being a government for the people. 

Questions:

1. Where does that leave the constitutionally stipulated secular status of the Nigerian state ?( several states in northern Nigeria now implement Sharia.)  

2. Does the Constitution not need to be reworked as advocates of renegotiation of the terms of association of federating units clamour?  Otherwise northern states are breaking the law with impunity in such barefaced implementation with no one batting an eyelid.  

3.  Of what help is the Sharia when northern governors who were supposed to supervise its administration have cases of grand theft of public funds before the EFCC? Does Sharia endorse theft of public funds?

OAA



Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.
-------- Original message --------
From: Cornelius Hamelberg <hamelberg...@gmail.com>
Date: 11/03/2020 06:55 (GMT+00:00)
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re - the “dethronement” of the Emir of Kano

Boxbe This message is eligible for Automatic Cleanup! (hamelberg...@gmail.com) Add cleanup rule | More info

Lord Agbetuyi ,

You think that” the Oxford piece should first have been delivered in Saudi Arabia, Qatar or some other Muslim nation before going West.”?

Perish the thought! You know, and the Emir knows too, that brave as he is at home in Kano, he wouldn’t dare to go and lecture Prince Mohammed bin Salman and the oil sheikhs in Saudi Arabia that they should stop dragging their feet with regard to reform, modernisation and the diversification of the economy. He knows and you too know that “Discretion is the better part of valour”. In this case it would be a matter of adab (decorum) and he should not like to outstay his welcome in the birthplace of al- Islam.

Indeed, for various reasons, there have been many before Muhammadu Sanusi II who “let out the genie of Islamic reforms out of the bottle” and it all came to nought. Their time has not yet come.

But I am optimistic, because, (and this is not Quranic ):

“And slowly answer'd Arthur from the barge:

"The old order changeth, yielding place to new,

And God fulfils Himself in many ways,

Lest one good custom should corrupt the world.”

However, when the now deposed Emir said that poverty in the Islamic North was due to the sacred Islamic institution of polygamy (for all kinds of practical sociological reasons) - those directly affected, indeed the many that came into this world as a result of polygamy, and many of the current practitioners of the halal polygamy must have felt resentment towards the Emir for expressing what they could perceive as anti-polygamy and anti-Islam criticism.

To begin with, Rasulullah , salallahu alaihi wa salaam , who is the role model for all Muslims, said to his Sahaba , and this is a sahih hadith :

The best of you is the one who is best to his wife, and I am the best of you to my wives.”

The  peaceful, calm and dignified way in which Muhammadu Sanusi II has handled his “dethronement “, is very impressive, not vengeful. I salute him.

 BTW, do the Aladura churches dispense the Eucharist? I ask because some time ago I read a poem  which featured a line talking about ” the holy communion of cassava bread and palm wine “ – maybe  a concession and adaptation to local preferences/ taste that should fit in nicely with what the theologians refer to as “contextualisation

 

 


On Wed, 11 Mar 2020 at 00:28, OLAYINKA AGBETUYI <yagb...@hotmail.com> wrote:

--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfric...@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDial...@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialo...@googlegroups.com.

Cornelius Hamelberg

unread,
Mar 11, 2020, 4:20:57 PM3/11/20
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com

Lord Agbetuyi,

Your last four paragraphs are of the essence. These are questions that will be much discussed and will have to be answered before the next presidential elections. If I were a Nigerian national, I would dare to be much more forthright on these matters.

Some snappy, happy reading for us : “ I’m a Yoruba boy”, Joshua tells Queen Elizabeth

I once told Ogugua Ogunoby , I think that it could have been here ,  that when the Nigerian Southerner says “ Hausaman” he generally means Muslim. An irate Ogunoby wanted to know if I had talked to all Southerners. No, I haven’t. No one has.  But I kept the intimate company of enough Igbos long enough to know what I’m talking about – and a good number of Englishmen too, so that I don’t have to ask Eliza Cook and all the living and the dead to verify what’s said about The Englishman.  I understand Ogunoby. I understand him well. He’s an economist and not a great  poet or a statistician like  my former classmate  Sylvester Abimbola Young or a common language philosopher without name or  tribe, “ half asleep near the stars with a small dog licking his face

Unfortunately, on the whole, some non-Muslims who of course don’t know any better, tend to think of the Mumin from the North as just a bunch of mostly backward, fanatic illiterates with an infantile mentality/ imagination that has been captivated by some Mohammedan miracles. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. As presented in Letter to An African Muslim, “a Muslim is by definition an intellectual”.

I followed (mostly on a discussion forum hosted by Yahoo) the intensely learned and heated discussions and debates that preceded Zamfara State going Sharia. It was a tug of war mostly between Muslims and non-Muslims (Christians, animists, idolaters, polytheists and atheists) whose main anxiety was about preserving the secular nature of Nigeria’s Constitution. Their anxiety continues a little aggravated as they watch the latest developments throughout the Federal Republic.

Concerning the latest developments in Kano, it’s true that charity begins at home and that Muhammadu Sanusi II,  former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria turned pious Emir of Kano, just like his president Buhari, also Muslim and Fulani, except that he as Emir had not been sparing in his critiques of the situation in Nigeria – lawlessness and anarchy reigning supreme everywhere, banditry and ransom kidnappings everywhere, Boko Haram in the North East, gory tales of marauding Fulani herdsmen, true or false, now established as the second most feared terrorists walking on two legs  - it’s probable that if Muhammadu Sanusi II were still Emir of Kano today he would be moving from theory to action in organising his own version of an Amotekun militia -  a deadly, no-nonsense Muslim peoples defence battalion to protect the unprotected faithfuls in his Emirate. A move that could have already been in the pipeline, further exacerbating the bad blood between him and Kano’s Governor Abdullahi Ganduje  - and if only –  a big if, if only that Militia was already in existence it would have been a proper battle, maybe a shootout between the Emir’s palace guards and the governor’s state constabulary sent to escort and transport the Emir into exile…

But, back to where you started, your,” I still think the Oxford piece should first have been delivered in Saudi Arabia, Qatar or some other Muslim nation before going West.”

I still think that charity begins at home – home for the Emir being Nigeria and maybe also Saudi Arabia where Islam was born and that’s why I lament the ( in my view) servile, uncle tom, House Negro tendency of first fast-trotting over to Oxford, like Man Friday,  to speak some good English, first and foremost to appease the Oyibo  - as if  the Oyibo is the boss ( Massa)  who with his ear cocked, is all set to listen and with a pat on the back to approve of whatever amendments, adjustments, improvements and reforms are recommended  by the Emir as best suited for Islam and agents of Islam. Agents such as the emirs of Kano. It’s the pathology of which Fanon wrote , not least of all in Black Skins, White Masks , Muhammadu’s need to be ratified and certified by Oxford, Oxford where his reformist ideas  should be first ventilated  and be most likely to be appreciated.

I love these lines from the Quran:

“This day are those who disbelieve in despair of (ever harming) your religion; so, fear them not, fear Me! This day have I perfected your religion for you and completed My favour unto you, and have chosen for you as religion al-Islam.” (Surah al-Maidah, Ayat 3)

If indeed charity begins at home and Nigeria is home for the Nigerian then why not present this lecture “Tradition, Modernization, and Reform: The Institution of Emir as Change Agent”  at one of the Nigerian Universities  such as his alma mater Ahmadu Bello University, or better still Ibadan, Ife, for a meaningful round table discussion, after the lecture?

 I notice that at the bottom of the announcement we read “ This event will be followed by a drinks reception “ – this is a coded message that signals haram,  non-Islamic alcohol will be served.  The Oxford authorities are already confident that his Holy Highness will have no objection. At the Iranian Embassy receptions that I attended no haram alcohol was ever served. Haram al-cohol being served at any such event would be unthinkable.

"Man proposes, God disposes" – God also deposes. Things can change pretty quickly. Back in 2017, the Emit was saying,” I won’t leave my throne for public office!”

Lord Agbetuyi,

Who sabi tomorrow?

 


OLAYINKA AGBETUYI

unread,
Mar 11, 2020, 4:31:00 PM3/11/20
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Oga Cornelius.

Many thanks for the links to Sanusi II's How to Stop Manufacturing Poverty.  The man is simply one of the most brilliant economists not only in Nigeria but the whole of Africa. Gwanduje has tried to humiliate an economic giant whose feet he should kiss! (Toyin Adepoju: and this is the man you have been trying to attack with your Fulani herdsman pseudo rhetoric! ) 

President Buhari will do himself and Nigeria a world of good by recalibrating his Cabinet and naming SLS his chief economic adviser. I doff my hat for the economic genius with his supreme grasp of national and global economics with the place of Africa and Nigeria in it.  But for the turban you would not think this was a northern Nigerian Emir speaking relative to the  South and northern minority caricature of the northern Emir.  And notably Governor El Rufai and Vice President Osinbajo were in the audience.  This is the man Ganduje faults for not towing the line of the less endowed colleagues in the emirate council!

I can now understand why he is unperturbed by the dethronement.  If his views in this talk are implemented Africa  (and Nigeria) will cease to be an economic basket case within 10 years.  I can see his fellow states man Aliko Dangote is already implementing his strategies  in his business empire. 

CAO his dethronement is no intra- class squabble;  it is the machinations of the enemies of the people.


OAA



Sent from Samsung tablet.


-------- Original message --------
From: 'Chikwendu Ukaegbu' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Date: 11/03/2020 06:55 (GMT+00:00)
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re - the “dethronement” of the Emir of Kano

Boxbe This message is eligible for Automatic Cleanup! (usaafric...@googlegroups.com) Add cleanup rule | More info


On Tuesday, March 10, 2020, 1:10:09 PM CDT, Chikwendu Ukaegbu <ukaegbuc...@yahoo.com> wrote:


Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju

unread,
Mar 11, 2020, 4:47:38 PM3/11/20
to usaafricadialogue
Agbetuyi and his ceaseless fascination with Adepoju-


''(Toyin Adepoju: and this is the man you have been trying to attack with your Fulani herdsman pseudo rhetoric! ) ''

  His fascination has been a great help  to me though.

Is Sanusi not a patron of Miyetti Allah Fulani Socio-Cultural Orgasisation that runs Fulani herdsmen terrorism?

What has been his role in this terrorist war on Nigeria?

What ideological formation does he thus demonstrate within Nigeria's ethnic nexus?

I shall insist on a response from OAA before i am satisfied.

toyin

tunde jaiyeoba

unread,
Mar 11, 2020, 5:44:39 PM3/11/20
to usaafricadialogue
My personal opinion is that the deposed Emir actually desired to be deposed. The Emirship was a fall back position and protection after being unceremoniously removed as Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria. The brilliant man later discovered that his 'mission' is difficult to fulfil in the position of Emir and that it was constraining his 'moves'.

Just thinking aloud






Babatunde JAIYEOBA


















Prof. E. Babatunde JAIYEOBA PhD
Head, Department of Architecture
Faculty of Environmental Design and Management
Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria

Cornelius Hamelberg

unread,
Mar 11, 2020, 6:47:24 PM3/11/20
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com

Lord Agbetuyi,

Although I know precious little about economics or political economy, solely on the basis of his “How to Stop Manufacturing Poverty” I couldn’t agree with you more that “The man (Sanusi Lamido Sanusi) is simply one of the most brilliant economists not only in Nigeria but the whole of Africa.”

And true, too,

“Nature and Nature's laws lay hid in night:

God said, Let Newton be! and all was light.”

 Therefore, about the sporadic, scarce supply of electricity in the country, and the spasmatic fits of on and off that characterise the NEPA syndrome of Never-Expect- Power-Always,  I’m looking forward to what promises to be Baba Kadiri’s magnum opus, his seminal, equally fascinating advice on “How to Stop Producing Darkness Only”, to be addressed to Nigeria’s professors of electricity.

 That “Gwanduje has tried to humiliate an economic giant whose feet he should kiss!” and the high-handed manner in which he carried out the “dethronement” was in my view a most reprehensible act.

According to one of the guidelines of  the Jewish faith, one should refrain from  shaming, humiliating or embarrassing anybody. So, sometimes, one has to exercise uttermost restraint.  Because of Sinat Chinam, the second temple was destroyed as evidenced in the story of Kamtza and Bar Kamtza

Considering the status of the Emir of Kano, it’s incomprehensible how the governor could have taken such a very extreme measure against a fellow Muslim leader, without the prior consent or consultations with President Buhari.

After all that has transpired, It’s doubtful that “the honest general” would like to appoint Sanusi Lamido Sanusi  the whistle-blower former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria as his “chief economic adviser” or that the deposed Emir of Kano  who has already been accused by the governor of supporting a PDP politician would like to embrace playing that kind of role in Buhari’s moribund government. But Buhari is not about to manipulate the constitution to enable him to go for a third term. In my opinion, the deposing of the emir would have cost him re-election

Toyin Adepoju’s fanatical, monomaniacal grinding away at “Northern hegemony” and everything Fulani is understandable. For him, there are no exceptions. His only question is, “Fulani?” If the answer is “Yes”, then you must be a herdsman or supporter.  You talked about “an economic giant whose feet he (Gwanduje) should kiss!” As far as we know Adepoju is not necessarily so interested in “economic giants”.  I think that the only giant that he’s probably really interested in “giant ass” (booty).  I’m sure even a Fulani one (Yes), that would make him smile because he very much wouldn’t mind introducing himself to her and opt for as they ask in the massage parlour, “happy ending!”

 

 


Abolaji Adekeye

unread,
Mar 12, 2020, 12:12:54 PM3/12/20
to Cornelius Hamelberg
Hurray for giant booty and sleeping boobies.
All that he wants is just earthshaking nookies,
alas, the crown is too much for rookies.
Hurray for erotic esoteria, santeria and other cookies.

OLAYINKA AGBETUYI

unread,
Mar 13, 2020, 12:42:50 PM3/13/20
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com
I disagree.  If you read the Abdusalam Abubakar Committee report on how SLS was BEGGING and appealing to Ganduje to let them reconcile after he had resolved to keep his mouth shut;  if you read how the Committee appealed to Ganduje to be open to reconciliation;  if you read SLS's response to the Committee that Ganduje was actively listening to Palace mischief makers and that this has to stop to give peace a chance; if you read Ganduje's statement that people thought things were personal between him and SLS, whereas he was responding to the demands of emirate officials  you would not conclude that SLS deliberately wanted to be dethroned to lead a more casual life.

Ganduje felt SLS was arrogant because he was a Fulani prince and sought to teach him a lesson that officially he (Ganduje) was boss prince or no prince.  He did not want to accept that  SLS's self assurance came from moral and intellectual superiority and NOT Fulani princehood.  He was deeply hurt as he confided in the Committee.  It was so as not to offend the other Fulani princes that he appointed Aminu Bayero and not Emir of Bichi which SLS complained about as SLS's successor.  But he took the opportunity to ensure the situation did not repeat itself in the future by broadening the emirate council and opting for rotation of chairmanship of the council rather than vesting it in the Emir of Kano as was the case in the past.

OAA



Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.
-------- Original message --------
From: 'tunde jaiyeoba' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Date: 11/03/2020 21:50 (GMT+00:00)
To: usaafricadialogue <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re - the “dethronement” of the Emir of Kano

Boxbe This message is eligible for Automatic Cleanup! (usaafric...@googlegroups.com) Add cleanup rule | More info
My personal opinion is that the deposed Emir actually desired to be deposed. The Emirship was a fall back position and protection after being unceremoniously removed as Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria. The brilliant man later discovered that his 'mission' is difficult to fulfil in the position of Emir and that it was constraining his 'moves'.

Just thinking aloud






Babatunde JAIYEOBA


















Prof. E. Babatunde JAIYEOBA PhD
Head, Department of Architecture
Faculty of Environmental Design and Management
Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria

--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfric...@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDial...@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialo...@googlegroups.com.
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages