On the Sultan of Sokoto brouhaha

BY DANJUMA MUSA

“The man that brings ant-infested faggots into his hut should not grumble when lizards begin to pay him a visit” — Chinua Achebe.

Vice-President Kashim Shettima’s history of making expensive and very consequential goofs is legendary and this is not abating with age and weightier responsibility. He has dabbled headlong into an unnecessary controversy manufactured by Prof. Ishaq Akintola, the Executive Director of Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC). Akintola had rushed to town with a baseless story that Governor Ahmad Aliyu Sokoto was plotting to dethrone the 20th Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar, without the simple courtesy of confirming the authenticity or otherwise of the allegation from the governor who he has unlimited access to.

And very sadly, the vice president, during the inaugural North-West Peace and Security Summit organized by the north-west governors and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), gave life to the unsubstantiated allegation and, like a village headmaster, issued instructions to Idris Gobir, the deputy governor, for onward transmission to his principal. That was not only condescending but disrespectful to the office and person of the Sokoto state governor. As a former governor himself, Shettima definitely wouldn’t have accepted such an insult from anyone, no matter how highly placed.

The impression the vice-president has created due to his several verbal missteps is that of someone that is belligerent and who doesn’t give a damn about the sensibilities of his fellow citizens, and has in the process come out as frivolous when in fact he is said to be a very serious minded person.

In the days to come, Shettima should expect torrents of media attacks for his unfortunate statement which portrayed the Sokoto State Government in a very negative light and put her under an unnecessary pressure due to the threat to security as the opposition parties had attempted to cash in on the falsehood to foment crisis.

Pushed to the wall, the Sokoto state government was forced to lash out at the vice president, an avoidable fate, if only he had bothered to ask questions. The government reaction reads ”the state government urges Vice President Shettima as No. 2 citizen, to have a full knowledge on issues of national concern before commenting on them. As an elder statesman and a father to all he should have facts and figures before judging on issues raised by mischief makers and the mushroom social media handlers known for negative propaganda”.

Despite allegations that Sultan Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar openly supported Saidu Umar, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in the 2023 elections, the Sokoto state government has respected and insists that it would continue to respect the Sultan and the institution. The governor in a press statement by Abubakar Bawa, his chief press secretary, described the statement by MURIC as a “figment of Prof Ishaq Akintola’s imagination”, while reiterating that the government had never contemplated the issue.

The three issues that MURIC apparently based its false alarm on are the sacking and transfer of some district heads in Sokoto State, over what the government described as “unbecoming behaviours, such as land racketeering, aiding insecurity as well as insubordination to constituted authority”, and the amendment to the law on appointment of traditional rulers and the extension of the tenure of local government councils from two to three years. The amendment of the traditional rulers law, according to Sambo Bello Danchadi, the Commissioner of Information and Orientation, is to “align the law with what has been in practice for decades” until 2007, during the administration of former Governor Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko, when the law was amended to give sole powers to the Sultan to appoint village heads without recourse to the state government”.

It must be stressed that the affected district and villag eheads were given fair hearing and the actions taken were based on the recommendations of the committee that investigated the allegations against them. Is MURIC implying that because they are district and village Heads who by the way are paid by the government that they should be above the law unlike other public servants?

If and when the law is amended the Sultanate Council would remain responsible, for collating applications of all aspirants to the thrones of district and village heads, the shortlisting and the submission of the three shortlisted candidates to the governor for approval. And for the avoidance of any doubt the commissioner stressed that “the essence of the amendment, is not in any way intended to alter the already existing Powers of the Governor or the role of the Sultanate Council in the appointment of District and Village Heads”.

Hopefully, mischief makers would give peace a chance because, contrary to their rumours which the vice president lent his powerful voice to, the amendment does not seek to dispossess the Sultan of the power to “appoint, suspend, punish, transfer etc any traditional ruler down to the ward head” nor to be vested wholly, completely and entirely in the Governor without consultation with the council”.

How on earth did Shettima rely on a statement by Prof Akintola, an interloper, in this matter? Didn’t Shettima know that this would have serious consequences on his political career? Undoubtedly, the VP should very much be aware of the reputation of Akintola who has a penchant for issuing frivolous and provocative statements. Why did he believe Prof Akintola instead of the Sokoto state government which has never hidden its high esteem for the Sultanate Council because of its long standing historical importance?

Bawa’s statement that the “Sokoto State Government does not need to be reminded of its responsibility to guard, protect, and promote the sultan” is apt.