By John Gambo
There appears to be a glamorous romance between the Sultanate in Sokoto and the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) led by Prof, Ishaq Akintola. And it seems that the romance is very attractive to the leadership of the Sultanate. This romance, as unproductive as it is, is being expressed by MURIC in a well-orchestrated attack on the Government of Sokoto State led by Dr. Aliyu Ahmad Sokoto. As it appears, it does seem like the MURIC hirelings are forcefully pulling the Sultan into a direct and open fight with the government. If not, one would have expected that His Eminence would have beckoned on Prof. Akintola to sheath his word rather than create tension between the state government and the sultanate.
The Sultan, a retired general of the Nigerian Army, and foremost traditional ruler in the country, is suspected to have allowed MURIC fan the embers of war with the administration of Governor Ahmad Aliyu Sokoto. Some people allege that the traditional ruler has disagreements with the governor which preceded the amendment of the chieftaincy laws of the state. It has also been alleged that the Sultan preferred Saidu Umar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 governorship election. However, Umar lost to Ahmad Aliyu Sokoto. It was expected that the Sultan ought to have accepted the supreme will of the people and work harmoniously with the governor to take the state to a higher level. But here are insinuations that this has not been the case.
The war against the state government has been levied in form of unguarded utterances, needless threats and provocative comments by the MURIC leader, who is said to be working for him. Some friends and well-wishers of the Sultan are also said to have raised concern over this development. Meanwhile, the Sokoto State Government has stated severally that it has absolutely no intention to dethrone, or, do anything that would amount to disrespect of the esteemed head of the Sultanate and the foremost position he occupies as the Sarkin Musulmi, or leader of the Nigerian Muslim Ummah.
The 2023 governorship elections ended more than 15 months ago. It is expected that everyone would have moved on irrespective of where they laid their support then. For this reason, the Sokoto state government had accorded the Sultan all his due privileges and rights and has repeatedly sworn that it would continue to respect both the Sultan and the institution he represents.
However, there are concerns that despite the peaceful disposition of the state governor, Prof. Akintola and his MURIC organisation has continued to raise dusts, beat drums of war all over the place, and cry wolf where not even a cat can be spotted. This action, which many in Sokoto political circle suspect has the blessing of the Sultan, has continued to unnecessarily overheat the polity, and threatening the peace of a nation that is already grappling with serious economic and social challenges.
Not too long ago, the ubiquitous one-man outfit, MURIC, had raised a false alarm of an imaginary plot to dethrone the Sultan. The MURIC fabrication led to an emergency meeting of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), ostensibly, to defend and protect the Sultan, someone who was never under any form of danger or attack. The NSCIA headed by the Sultan as President-General, after the meeting, came up with an incendiary communiqué which, among other things, threatened to unleash fire and thunder over the non-existent plot to dethrone the Sultan.
These dangerous maneuvers have created room for a frenzy of unwarranted verbal attacks on the Sokoto State Government and its functionaries. This development was seen as gross injustice to the good people of Sokoto State whose welfare the Sultan should be seen to protect, in the sense that their government is being distracted by external pressures from misguided agents.
Supporters of the Sultan, in their one-sided war, have even gone to the bizarre extent of organising solidary rallies, tagged reception, for him, when he returned to Sokoto recently. That action could easily have gotten out of control and turned to destructive riots. All these were because of a baseless rumour and malicious misrepresentation of facts. Imagine what would have occurred in the Sokoto metropolis and environs, if the ruling party’s supporters had mobilized to confront the pro-Sultan rallies. It would have been a perfect setting for violence and break down of law and order.
Clearly many people in Sokoto think that it is time that The Sultan calls MURIC to order. He is well respected across party lines and certainly has the charisma to influence the conduct of his supporters. He should prevail on them to realise that Nigeria is not a medieval monarchy or a theocracy, but a constitutional democracy where traditional and religious institutions come under the control and supervision of elected representatives of the people.
It should be noted that the root cause of the ongoing one-sided war being waged by MURIC, allegedly on behalf of the Sultan, has got nothing to do with any impending plot to pull the Sultanate stool away from the present occupant. For the umpteenth times, the Sokoto State government has clarified that there is no plot to remove Sa’ad Abubakar from office. It would be recalled that this diversionary tale of possible dethronement was also peddled by the meddlesome and nebulous MURIC through Akintola in the run up to the 2019 governorship elections stiffly contested by the two dominant political parties in Sokoto State. He apparently used that scare tactics to sway the votes in favour of the then ruling party in the state.
Aside politics, the real issue, then and now, is the persistent struggle by MURIC to the effect that the Sultan should be placed above the laws of Sokoto state, including the Nigerian constitution, which clearly rests the exercise of sovereign powers, not in the hands of monarchs, but on elected representatives of the people. To place the office of the Sultan above the law, MURIC wants all extant legislations relating to the appointment, control and deposition of traditional rulers in Northern Nigeria repealed immediately. Foremost of such laws is Section 6 Cap 26 Laws of Northern Nigeria, which designates the governor as the ultimate employer of any traditional ruler, including the Sultan.
This simply means that while a sitting governor can hire a monarch, irrespective of their status he can’t fire him. Even the supreme law of Nigeria, the 1999 Constitution as amended, will have to be changed in order to place the Sultan above the law, give him executive functions, including the power to hire and fire subordinates.
It is worthy of note that even countries that practice constitutional monarchy as a form of government, like the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Belgium, Norway, Denmark, Japan, Thailand, and more did not leave executive powers in the hands of their ruling monarchs. For example, on protocol, King Charles III rules England, Australia etc, but his role is purely ceremonial. He knows nothing about the daily conduct of government business in these countries, which is the sole responsibility of elected representatives.
If the Sultan of Sokoto gets the kind of powers and privileges that Ishaq Akintola of MURIC is asking for, he will be the only person in the country wielding power without control, a very dangerous precedent in any human setting! It basically means that he is not accountable to any earthly authority. He can do and undo good or evil, with the assurance that, throughout his lifetime, nobody born of woman can question his official or personal conducts.
But the reality of modern life makes no room for a monarch that is above the law. Even a president elected by the majority of the electorates, and empowered to exercise the sovereign rights of the people, is made constitutionally answerable to the people through the parliament, which can question his conduct of official business, and even remove him from office if he strays too far from the Constitution. So, why would the traditional ruler of a community, or nominal head of one of several religions in the country, want to acquire unlimited powers?
Prof. Akintola keeps jumbling up things to meet this motive. The NSCIA convention simply designates the Sultan as President General of the Council and Sarkin Musulmi, or leader of the Nigerian Ummah. It did not specify that any particular individual must remain in office as the Sultan, nor did the convention remotely imply that the Sultan, as Sarkin Musulmi, must reign for life. The recent history of the caliphate clearly shows that any of the many Sokoto princes can become Sultan and perform the duties of the office.
On November 1, 1988, the 17th Sultan, Sir Siddiq Abubakar III, died and was replaced by the Baradeen Sokoto, Dr Ibrahim Dasuki, who automatically became the Leader of Nigerian Muslims. Sultan Dasuki, the very first Sultan from the Buhari ruling house, did not reign for life as he was deposed in 1996 by the Military Governor of Sokoto state, Col. Yakubu Muazu. Dasuki was accused of being too urbane and independent minded, ignoring directives of the government and frequently traveling out of his domain without the knowledge or approval of the relevant authorities.
Many people believe that Col Muazu capitalized on the irreconcilable personal differences and conflict of interest between the Sultan and the then Head of State, the late General Sani Abacha, to depose him.
The dethronement of Ibrahim Dasuki paved the way for the installation of Sultan Muhammadu Maccido Abubakar as the 19th head of Sokoto Caliphate, a position he held for 10 years, until his tragic death in an ADC Airlines plane crash on October 29, 2006, at the age of 78.
Regrettably, Sa’ad Abubakar, who ascended the throne on November 2, 2006, has chosen to be embroiled in politics. His unconcealed support for one political party can easily pitch him against another party that comes to power. This is part of the reasons traditional rulers are often admonished, in the best interest of their esteemed position, to abstain from partisanship. One is happy that the Sokoto State Government has persistently assured the public that it nurses no desire to change the leadership of the Sultanate.
At the same time, no amount of threat and intimidation from Akintola, an arrowhead in a needless struggle, will make the government to back out of a well-intended move to streamline the operations of the traditional institution in Sokoto State by way of an Act of Parliament. Already, the State Government has signed the amended law into effect and the Sultan was not deposed as maliciously insinuated by Akintola and MURIC. There’s nothing in the law to show that the government’s action was ill-motivated, or based on political vendetta.
*Gambo lives in Sokoto