TheCable

Many years ago, I wrote that “leadership in the wrong field is a demotion, not a promotion.” The mentioned excerpt is applicable to Sanusi Lamido Sanusi being an emir of Kano. I am of the opinion that Sanusi is bigger than the throne he left a few days ago and he is clearly not wired for it. He is not someone who can preserve age-long-traditions that romance the status-quo. He is the outspoken type. He has always being a leader all her life. And he’s too refined and knowledgeable to be confined to a kingdom in a Republic!

How can a man—who has led the Central Bank of the Federal Republic of Nigeria now pick a job to be under a Local Government Chairman? Does that make any sense? He was not only answerable to a governor; he was inferior to a Local Government Chairman! I know being an emir was his lifelong ambition, but the truth is, it was completely a misguided one!

Even a day old baby knows that Baba must know about Sanusi’s removal from the throne and probably his banishment to Nasarawa State, because what happened was a stunt beyond what Ganduje alone could pull. Does a State governor control those who came to whisk Sanusi away? That kind of controversial-button can only be pressed from the highest office in Nigeria. We are not all stupid.

Also, we know that what happened has a lot to do with politics. If GEJ wasn’t a gentleman, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi wouldn’t have become an emir at all in the first place. SLS was one of the strategies used to bring baba to power. Kano was one of the swing States and they needed their man on the throne to brighten baba’s chances of ruling Nigeria. But after baba’s first term, SLS probably got disappointed and decided to speak and work for Atiku and Kano’s governorship candidate against baba and Ganduje. That was actually the genesis of his problem. Anyone can argue with what I am penning, but the truth is, no one can kick against the prick. Anyone who does that will needlessly lose a lot of blood.

Do I like Sanusi’s style of leadership and the way he speaks on issues affecting Nigeria? No! I am of the opinion that he does not get his facts right most times before coming out to speak. He needlessly ruffles some feathers. Is it hard to know where he is standing on national issues? No! Sanusi is not like “Jonathan, son of Saul” who was a ‘fence-seater!’ From the surface, it was hard to know whether Jonathan was for either David or Saul. Remember, destruction is always the end of every ‘fence-seater.’ I hope every ‘fence-seater’ in Nigeria understands what I am touching on here. Because of what some people will eat, it is very difficult to know where they are standing on national issues.

I do have no headache with Sanusi being dethroned by his employer, the Kano State governor. Everyone who is sincere knows that two drivers cannot drive one car! For the car of Kano State not to have an accident, Sanusi had to go! If you do not like what I am touching on here, I cannot help you. Sanusi was an employee, being monthly paid like other public servants in Kano State. And if one of your employees is consistently speaking against you in public, will you ignore him and not do anything about it? I do not think so.

The only issue that is unsettling some of us, is the issue of banishment, Kano people are as still as water, though. I still do not understand how anyone can be banished in 21st century, so it came as a surprise when the news of Sanusi being banished began to fly everywhere. It was not even the emirate people who whisked him away from the palace to Abuja and drove him for several hours before getting to where they were ordered to take him to at 2am; it was those whose job is to protect the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria who got the job done. This is a little confusing!

Is the tradition of an emirate superior to the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria? The constitution of Nigeria states that every citizen of Nigeria is allowed to determine where he desires to stay per time. Sanusi wanted to come to Lagos, but those who came for him stopped him. It is not wrong for an employee to be sacked by an employer, but it is wrong when the employer now wants to banish him or her, determining where he or she will stay till he or she breathes his or her last!

On the condition that the Federal Government of Nigeria looks the other way when a State governor decided to banish a genuine citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, because of a lifeless and obsolete tradition, then it will also keep quiet, when either a king or an emir dies and their own tradition also says that a breathing-human-being must be buried with him. Are we not in a mess in Nigeria?

Those who are ahead of us are confusing those of us who are coming behind them. And what they do most times shows that they are not loyal to the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Also, what exactly are we trying to build? A kingdom or Republic? Are we all accountable to the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria or the varied traditions of some palaces or emirates? Nigeria is clearly a very confusing State!