By Olusegun Olanrewaju
There is tension in the Sokoto traditional institution over an alleged plot by Governor Ahmed Aliyu to sack the Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar.
The alleged plan is thickening in the wake of the dethronement, on April 23, this year, of 15 traditional rulers by the Governor over alleged cases of insubordination and land grabbing, among other high-profile cases of misdemeanour.
Effecting the dethronement of 15 district heads on the above-stated date, Governor Aliyu listed insubordination, and land racketeering, against the monarchs as well as “aiding insecurity and conversion of public properties.”
Announcing the sack of the district heads in Sokoto, the state capital, on behalf of his principal, the Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to the Governor, Abubakar Bawa, in a statement that fateful Tuesday, gave the names of the affected district heads as those of Unguwar Lalle, Yabo, Wamakko, Tulluwa, lllela, Dogon Daji, Kebbe, Alkammu, and Giyawa. mer the Emirate as a symbol of dignity and peace —Film
Others were those appointed by the former governor, Aminu Tambuwal, now a senator in Abuja, at the tail end of his administration.
The governor’s spokesman said, among others, “They were dropped due to the nature of their appointment which was haphazardly done and rejected by their subjects.’’
Bawa gave the titles of some of the affected district heads as Marafan Tangaza, Sarkin Gabas Kalambaina, Bunun Gongono, Sarkin Kudun Yar Tsakkuwa, Sarkin Tambuwal, and Sarkin Yamman Torankavwa,
The statement, however, further said that the cases involving district heads of Isa, Kuchi, Kilgori, and Gagi, had been ‘’recommended for further investigations’’.
The statement, however, insinuated that a senior counsellor in the Sultanate Council, Sarkin Yakin Binji, was given a ‘punitive transfer’ to Bunkari, while the District Head of Sabon Birni was deployed to Gatawa.
Bawa also in a statement said that seven other district heads had been retained by the government.
They include Aliyu Abubakar III (Churoman Sokoto), Ibrahim Dasuki Maccido (Barayar Zaki), Abubakar Salame (Sarkin Arewan Salame), and Aminu Bello (Sarkin Yamman Balle).
Yet others touched by the order were Mahmoud Yabo (Sarkin Gabas Dandin Mahe), Mukhtari Tukur Ambarura (Sarkin Gabas Ambarura), and Isa Rarah (Sarkin Gabas of Rarah District).
According to the official declaration, the district heads of Tsaki and Asare were also retained, while Abdulkadir Mujeli, who was appointed as the Magajin Garin Sokoto was asked to go back to his former position as the Sarkin Rafin Gumbi district.
The statement informed that the changes were because of the recommendations of the Committee on the Review of Appointments of Traditional Rulers, Renaming of Tertiary Institutions and the Dissolution of Governing Councils of State Parastatals set up by the state government.
*MURIC fumes
Drawing inference from the earlier dethronement of the 15 district monarchs by the governor, the controversial Islamic rights group, Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), yesterday expressed concern over what it considers the sour relationship between the governor and the Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar, which it claims “could lead to the dethronement of the monarch.”
In a press statement issued yesterday by its Founder and Executive Director, Prof Ishaq Akintola, the MURIC noted, “The governor of Sokoto State, Ahmed Aliyu, deposed 15 traditional rulers on 23rd April 2024. That was two months ago.
“However, feelers in circulation indicate that the governor may descend on the Sultan of Sokoto any moment from now using any of the flimsy excuses used to dethrone the 15 traditional rulers whom he removed earlier.
“MURIC advises the governor to look before he leaps. The Sultan’s stool is not only traditional. It is also religious. In the same vein, his jurisdiction goes beyond Sokoto. It covers the whole of Nigeria. He is the spiritual head of all Nigerian Muslims.”
Akintola warned of severe consequences if anyone tried to depose the Sultan.
He said, “Therefore, any governor who tampers with the stool of the Sultan will have Nigerian Muslims to reckon with because the Sultan combines the office of the Sultan of Sokoto and that of the President-General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA).
“Governor Ahmed Aliyu should not force Nigerian Muslims to take a drastically revolutionary measure. Having a traditional ruler as a leader has been a condition Nigerian Muslims accepted a long time ago as a necessary weakness in the structure which they have to live with.”
He added, “A military governor, Colonel Yakubu Muazu, exposed this soft underbelly when he deposed Sultan Ibrahim Dasuki on April 20, 1996. Nigerian Muslims will be forced to make a hard decision if Sokoto governors continue to diminish the authority of the Sultan.
“For the avoidance of any doubts, Sultan Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar is not only the Sultan of Sokoto but the Sultan of the Nigerian people. His performance and style of leadership have wormed him into the hearts of Nigerians’’
The activist also stated, “Nigerian Muslims, North and South of the country, may be constrained to pick Islamic scholars only as the President-General of the NSCIA and overall leader of Nigerian Muslims. It will be a farewell to the leadership of traditional rulers over the NSCIA, and an irreversible departure from Sokoto’s privileged leadership position.
‘’But history will not be kind to Colonel Yakubu Muazu and Ahmed Aliyu for ruining the chances of Sokoto. That will make it impossible for any governor to harass or intimidate the leader of Nigerian Muslims.
“The power and influence of governors over traditional rulers have become absolute and totalitarian in recent times. Nigerian Muslims must be given space to breathe some air of freedom like all other associations.
“Once is happenstance, twice is a coincidence, and the third time is enemy action. If the deposition of a Sultan and NSCIA leader happens a second time, Nigerian Muslims will not allow the embarrassment to happen a third time.”
MURIC also reiterated its call on the Sokoto State House of Assembly to either “repeal or review the state’s chieftaincy laws by adding the phrase ‘except the Sultan of Sokoto’ to Section 6, Cap 26 of the Laws of Northern Nigeria which empowers the state governor to depose the emirs including the Sultan.’’
It further stated, “We urge the Northern elite and Islamic scholars based in the North to intervene before it is too late. This is the time to lobby the Sokoto State House of Assembly and the governor himself.
“If the chieftaincy laws of Kano State can be repealed within 24 hours, nothing stops that of Sokoto State from being reviewed in favour of immunity for the office of the Sultan in a single day to save Nigerian Muslims from humongous embarrassment.
“It is arbitrary, irrational, and condescending for a state governor to possess the power to dethrone the leader of all Muslims in Nigeria when even an ordinary chairman of a local government cannot sack the president of a campus students union. It is unacceptable. Enough is enough.”
*VP Shettima warns govt against deposition
In his response to the brewing cauldron, Vice President, Kashim Shettima, also yesterday urged the Sokoto State Government to jealously guard Sultan Abubakar.
The VP made the call at the ongoing North-West Peace and Security Summit in Katsina State.
Shettima said, “In all developmental issues in this country, His Eminence, the Sultan of Sokoto, I want to use him as a point of reference to recognise and appreciate all our royal fathers present here.
“And to the Deputy Governor of Sokoto, I have a simple message for you, Yes, the Sultan is the Sultan of Sokoto, but he is much more than that; he represents an idea, he is an Institution, that all of us in this country need to jealousy guard, protect, promote, preserve and project for the growth of our nation.”
The VP was echoing MURIC’s Executive Director, Akintola, who had alleged a plot to depose the Sultan in a statement in which he said Nigerian Muslims would reject any thought of deposing the Sultan, Shettima stated, “Feelers in circulation indicate that the governor may descend on the Sultan of Sokoto any moment from now using any of the flimsy excuses used to dethrone the 15 traditional rulers whom he removed earlier.
“MURIC advises the governor to look before he leaps. The Sultan’s stool is not only traditional. It is also religious. In the same vein, his jurisdiction goes beyond Sokoto. It covers the whole of Nigeria. He is the spiritual head of all Nigerian Muslims.”
