By Saidu Musa
“All leaders lead by example…whether they intend to or not” -Unknown
Alhaji Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar the 20th Sultan of Sokoto vicariously stands accused of active collaboration with Professor Ishaq Akintola, Executive Director of the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and other “sympathizers” in their relentless media campaign to paint Dr. Ahmad Aliyu Sokoto, the Sokoto State Governor and his administration in negative light in the eyes of the good people of Sokoto State, the Muslim faithful and indeed Nigerians, due to what appears to be his tacit support for the campaign of calumny and the consecutive two days reception organized by known opposition elements on his “triumphant” return to Sokoto. But for the commendable restraint by supporters of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Sokoto State would have been thrown into a devastating crisis of unimaginable proportion.
The Sultan’s deafening silence and refusal to publicly disown MURIC over its provocative campaign especially after the state government had vehemently debunked MURIC’s wicked allegations and assured him that it had no intention to depose him is inexplicable. The Sultan, should and ought to have called out MURIC not only because the falsehood had generated an unnecessary tension in Sokoto State, the real intention of the opposition elements, which since its defeat in the 2023 elections have been looking for a way to precipitate crisis in the state, but because MURIC has subtly changed the tune of the campaign from fighting the alleged plot to dethrone him as the Sultan, to canvassing for an amendment to Section 6 Cap 26 of the Laws of Northern Nigeria that would make him an imperial lord that would be unaccountable and not responsible to the Sokoto State government, his legitimate employers.
The Sultan, who is not only well informed, but is reportedly a brilliant military strategist, can’t feign ignorance about the activities of MURIC which has led observers to construe his silence as some sort of royal backing for the deadly campaign by Akintola’s rabble-rousing machinery.
The real problem “disturbing” MURIC is clearly not the amendment of the Sokoto State Local Government Law of 2008 by the Sokoto State House of Assembly, which seeks to constitutionally vest the appointment of District and Village Heads in the governor, but that the Sultan of Sokoto, the leader of Nigerian Muslims and beyond is not only answerable, but can in fact be removed from office by a “mere” state governor when the Sultan’s “imperial empire” is beyond the shores of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
But for the backing of some powerful forces, MURIC ought to have dropped its divisive campaign which it had initially masqueraded as saving the Sultan throne from humiliation. Thankfully Akintola, due to his lack of tact and missionary zeal, unknowingly let out the real objective of the campaign. The Sokoto state government must brace up for sustained mischief from the very fertile mind of Akintola the Sole Administrator of MURIC.
The overwhelming evidence of the deadly plot by MURIC, which is capable of throwing an already polarized country into further turmoil, is its insistence in several interviews and press statements that Section 6 Cap 26 of the Laws of Northern Nigeria which deals with the appointment and removal of the Sultan must be immediately amended to make the Sultan “untouchable” and “unremovable” by the Sokoto state governor.
“We are talking of the head of all Muslims in Nigeria and that a single person can just dethrone him just by snapping a finger. It is infra dignitatem. It had better not be. The Sultan does not head Sokoto sultanate alone. He is the President-General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA),” Said Ishaq Akintola of MURIC, in what is a confirmation of his campaign for an imperial Sultan.
Agreed that the emirate system predated the Nigerian state, but why do some apologists like Akintola continue to argue that because it’s not a creation of law, it should not be subjected to any law? But have no problem with the state funding the Sultanate? Why should the Sultan in good conscience enjoy funding from the state when Akintola wants him to be unaccountable to the state government?
It’s deceitful for Akintola, the Sole Administrator of MURIC, not to have owned up that his disguised campaign had absolutely nothing to do with the alleged whittling down of the Sultan’s power in the appointment of District and Village Heads which he had falsely marketed as a prelude to the Sultan’s deposition, but the creation of an “Islamic style Imperial Sultanate” because the amendment only stripped the Sultan of the sole power to appoint District and Village Heads without recourse to the state governor who constitutionally is the only recognized appointing authority.
According to Sambo Bello Danchadi, Sokoto state Commissioner of Information and Orientation, the only objective of the amendment which has been passed is to “align the law with what had been in practice for decades” until 2007 when former Governor Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko amended it.
It is important to stress that former governor Wamakko willfully delegated the power of appointment of the District and Village Heads to the Sultanate Council as a sign of goodwill to the Sultan an experiment which terribly backfired.
It is therefore the abuse of the power granted the Sultanate Council that pushed the state government to take back the power and because the law is also in conflict with the 1999 Nigerian Constitution which vests power of appointments only in the president and state governors. There is no evidence that Governor Ahmad Aliyu Sokoto’s actions were ill-motivated or an abuse of his power.
The Sultan of Sokoto has a huge responsibility not only to distance himself from the sustained and divisive campaign against the Sokoto State Government by MURIC and company, but to also openly ask them to stop and desist because deep down he knows that there is no threat whatsoever to his throne and the fact that the campaign to make him an imperial ruler would cause chaos in Nigeria. The Sultan can’t be seen to be fiddling like Nero while Sokoto State burns or is it that he wants his friends in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to make Sokoto State ungovernable? This is the minimum of what a leader desirous of peace in his domain should do.
But why would the Sultan of Sokoto who is vehemently opposed to the constitutionally enshrined immunity for governors elected by the people and who by the functions of their office need protection from unnecessary distractions, see nothing wrong being a law unto himself and unaccountable to anyone? Isn’t the stance of MURIC that the only acceptable way going forward is an immediate amendment of the law to make it impossible for the governor or even the president to depose the Sultan, an affront on the Nigerian Constitution? Why would the Sultan, who is appointed, be immune from deposition when the President of the Republic and state governors can be removed if they commit impeachable offenses?
It’s worth restating that the amendment has not in any way destroyed the culture, religion or divided the people of Sokoto State rather it is a check on a deadly power wielded by one man. It’s important for Nigerians to take note of the dangerous campaign by MURIC which has serious implications for a country that is supposed to be secular, because of the consequences the MURIC agenda portends. It’s certainly preposterous for MURIC to proclaim the Sultan as being above the Constitution of Nigeria. No doubt the Sultan of Sokoto is without doubt the Supreme Leader of the Muslims of Nigeria as the President-General of the NSCIA but to push for an amendment that would make the Sultan unanswerable to the Sokoto State Government is a call for anarchy.
If MURIC doesn’t want the President-General of the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) to be removed by the Sokoto State government if he commits an act that warrants his removal, then the Sultan should be encouraged to relinquish the Sultan of Sokoto title and concentrate on being the President-General of the NSCIA otherwise MURIC should drop its untenable demands and accept that since the Sultan is appointed by the government the state government must also have the power to fire.
And isn’t Akintola stretching his luck too far by declaring Section 6 Cap 26 of the Laws of Northern Nigeria as being in conflict with Article 7 Section (i) of the NSCIA Constitution and that the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria must yield to the NSCIA Constitution? Is Akintola denying that the colonial conquest subordinated traditional rulers to the state as we now know it? In Nigeria, any law by any State House of Assembly that is in conflict with any law by the Federal Government is to the extent of its inconsistency considered null and void. So it is really amusing that MURIC has elevated the NSCIA Constitution over and above the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria by insisting that the NSCIA constitution must prevail when it said “Our position is that one of the two must give way and we believe it has to be the Sokoto law on traditional rulers. This is because NSCIA constitution is national whereas the laws of Sokoto are for Sokoto state only.”
Taking responsibility is the hallmark of leadership. The Sultan of Sokoto, as a retired general, definitely understands that you don’t go into a war unprepared or go into a war that you can’t win. The Sultan should be emphasizing stability as a shared concern with the state government as any violence would negatively rub off more on him more than the governor. According to Sun Tzu whose words have real applications to life especially for those in leadership position who constantly deal with strategic issues “the general who wins a battle makes many calculations in his temple where the battle is fought. The general who loses a battle makes but few calculations beforehand.”