Ime Akpan
A historian and former lecturer, Dr. Umar Ardo has condemned the breaking of Kano Emirate into five by the Kano State governor Abdullahi Umar and called on the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III and Muslims to resist the action.
Speaking in an interview with The Interview, Ardo said Ganduje’s action “is not just about the Kano Emirate council; it is also about the caliphate establishment.”
He said the governor was taking on the caliphate establishment adding that it was a direct challenge on the Fulbe people anywhere they are in the world “because the Sokoto caliphate establishment is the identity and pride of the Fulbe race.”
“If truly the problem is Emir Sanusi why can’t he simply initiate the process of deposing him and appointing someone else?
“This way the Emirate institution remains intact. But to go beyond the Emir and destroy the institution is a diabolical move whose motives go far beyond the surface.
‘Clearly Ganduje is after the destruction of the caliphate, using Emir Sanusi as smokescreen.
“The Sultan, all members of the caliphate, the Muslim Ummah and the Fulbe people should not only condemn it but should stand up against it,” said Ardo.
He said the emirates had been created from the time of Shehu Uthman dan Fodio and “if you now start balkanising them, you are just reducing the prestige and effectiveness of the emirate system.”
He alleged that Ganduje was exploiting divisions in the royal house between the emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi II, and his cousins to undermine the emirate and its heritage.
“Some of the members of the caliphate establishment are themselves, instigators of the problem, because they are not in good terms with their cousins who are on the throne.
“They are forgetting that they are destroying the system of which they hope to one day benefit from. They are in fact benefitting from it because you do not have to be an emir to benefit from the emirate establishment.”
However, he said the bulkanisation of the emirate might not stand going by what happened after a similar attempt in the Second Republic.
“It is very possible because it has happened before. Abubakar Rimi did the same thing…during the Second Republic.
“When Sabo Barkinzuwo came in, Sabo Barkinzuwo dissolved it, creating animosity among members of the aristocracy,” he said.
He said the fate that had befallen Sanusi 11 was political adding that Ganduje will go down in history as one who destroyed what Sheik Uthman dan Fodio established.
“Nothing has befallen Emir Sanusi; the effect is on the whole caliphate system. Nothing has befallen the Emir. Even if he leaves office today he’ll be counted among the emirs of Kano.
“And Ganduje will be recorded as one who came to destroy what Sheik Uthman dan Fodio established. As a historian, I don’t envy his posterity.
Besides, what’s happening is all political. The state government feels the emir is not overtly supportive of its position, the governor thinks that the emir is opposed to him that’s why he came up with this shenanigan.
“I cannot blame the emir for anything. He is blameless,” he said.
