Sanusi and Men with Vested Interest

By: Deji Yesufu

It was my second night in Germany. I had just retired to the hotel room when I saw notifications on my phone that Emir Sanusi Lamido Sanusi (Emir of Kano) had been removed by the Abdullahi Ganduje led government of Kano State. My heart sunk. Why do the best Nigerians seem to lose out in this business of national development; while the worst of us are the ones that triumph?

Incidentally of all the royal fathers in this country, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi (SLS) has been a lone voice in asking for government to do what governments are elected to do around the world. I was doubly pained by this development because here was I in a developed country and, like most Nigerians who visit Europe for the first time, I was lamenting years of bad leadership in Nigerian; yet, the only voice that seem to have been calling for good governance had just been silenced. What a tragedy.

After reading all the news items I could lay my hands on about the emir’s removal, I went to YouTube to find that famous SLS’s Ted Talk where he spoke about confronting vested interest in Nigeria and paying the price to overcome it. It is in the light of that lecture that I wish to juxtapose Emir Sanusi with a Ganduje - whose famous video of stuffing bundles of dollars in his “babanriga” (acquiring for himself an apt nickname “Gandollar”) is what the Governor is best known for in Nigeria. It is my hope that as I do this, we all can realize the sorry situation that we have found ourselves as a people and hopefully chart a way out of it in the days to come.

In this 18 minute video, SLS tells a group of young Nigerians that those who will save this country are men who have guts: those who can overcome the fear of challenging men with vested interest in the country. It is simple: Nigeria is what she is today because a number of corrupt individuals, many of them in authority, are profiting illegally from our common wealth.

Those who will rid this country of such men, are those who will overcome the debilitating power of fear that keeps people from speaking and acting against entrenched corruption in the land. In the video, SLS talked about how his time at the Central Bank saw him bring some powerful bank CEOs to justice; slamming some of them in jail. He spoke of a certain pastor in Nigeria, very likely one of those tin-god-Pentecostal pastors with acres of camp grounds on Lagos-Ibadan expressway, who used his position to get one of the bank CEOs off the hook. In that lecture, Sanusi was simply talking about himself and what he does naturally.

A few years later, he is removed from the CBN and goes on to be Emir of Kano. As Emir, guess what he did? He challenged those who had vested interest in the Northern people’s common wealth. This brought him to often clash with those in power – particularly the Governor in the State where he was monarch.

A few months to the 2015 general elections, an investigative journalist had gotten himself into a room where the Governor of Kano State was meeting with certain men (very likely contractors on State Projects). These men had brought the governor his own share of the contract. They brought the money in bundles of dollar bills. A smiling Ganduje is seen on camera stuffing wads of cash in his large flowing clothing, popularly referred to as babanriga (large clothing) in Hausa.

It was not until one had seen that video that one would realize that those clothing had that many pocket. A few weeks after the incident, the video is published on social media. It becomes a scandal. Ganduje has the power of immunity protecting him from prosecution. Yet, the incident was embarrassing enough to stop his re-election to office. It is not clear the position that Sanusi as Emir took during the elections but he clearly did not wish to see Ganduje back in the state government house.

The state goes to the polls and Ganduje was re-elected through a slim margin. It was clear that Ganduje was hurt and one of those he planned to deal with was Sanusi, the Emir. A little over a year after returning to office, Ganduje succeeds in removing Sanusi. His sin? The emir is said to disrespect the Governor.

Since the coming of the British, Nigeria has not been able to properly define the role of the monarchy in her constitution. Because the British practiced indirect rule, a system of government where the colonialists used the existing power structure on ground to rule the masses, they needed the monarchs in the land and thus did not abrogate the monarchy.

Besides, the British people were also ruled by a Queen; so they were accustomed to monarchies operating in a government. But with independence, succeeding Nigerian governments have not been able to successfully marry the monarchy with the democratic system of government bequeathed to us by the British.

While in most cases, the monarchs have been silenced and made errand boys by those in power, in some other cases there have been clashes between those in government and the monarchs - sometimes necessitating the removal of these monarchs. SLS is certainly not the first Nigerian monarch to be removed from his seat of power. But his removal leaves a bad taste in the mouth of those who know the real stories behind northern Nigeria.

The true sin of SLS had been that he had been calling for rapid development of Northern Nigeria. SLS, at many occasions, had pointed at the wide disparity between the rich and the poor, and had called on those in power to help bridge the gap. In the process of doing this, and characteristic of the man, he had said one or two things that had displeased the government in power. Yet, this Governor, that claims SLS disrespected him, is known most of all in Nigeria for stuffing wads of dollar bills in his clothing. A clear picture of the corruption that Sanusi had been condemning.

Thus, it is not difficult for any wise observer of events in Kano State to conclude that Sanusi was removed from power because he sided with the ordinary people of Kano State. His situation is doubly sad when you consider that the government in power, the APC, led by President Muhammadu Buhari, prides itself for its anti-corruption stance.

Yet, during events running up to the 2019 elections, the President was asked what his views were about Ganduje stuffing dollars in his clothing. Mr. President replied that the state house of assembly in Kano State would handle the matter. Everyone knows that most state houses in Nigeria are in the pocket of their state governors. The removal of SLS from office renders the whole anti-corruption crusade of this government a joke.

SLS has since relocated to Lagos State and many are hoping that his brilliant mind can be better channeled to other things that will help bring development to this country. Some are pushing for him to even run for the Presidency in 2023; an idea that the man is said to refuse to even entertain. One thing is however sure for me: if Sanusi Lamido Sanusi wishes to run for the Presidency in 2023, he already has my vote and the votes all those I influence politically.

Deji Yesufu is the author of the book Victor Banjo. He can be reached on newdejix@gmail.com.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/1505609702848568/posts/2722923184450541/

Pls, whosoever got to read this, should summarise for me. No time.

alonzoiv:
Pls, whosoever got to read this, should summarise for me. No time.

Those who will change society are those who will add solid thoughts to prevailing authorities. And it all begins with reading. So take the time to read or continue in servitude.

VBCampaign:


Those who will change society are those who will add solid thoughts to prevailing authorities. And it all begins with reading. So take the time to read or continue in servitude.

Dont kill yourself over nothing. If you cant summarise, kindly move on

VBCampaign:


Those who will change society are those who will add solid thoughts to prevailing authorities. And it all begins with reading. So take the time to read or continue in servitude.

What's new in the OP? Did it say anything new? Why would I waste time reading a propaganda to whitewash a part of the establishment?