By Ibraheem A. Waziri
Maybe Mal. Bashir Ibrahim Dabo was emotionally charged. Though one can understand the foreboding associated with someone’s utterances when they feel their history and nobility are being taken away from them.
But for an independent observer, Bashir’s two pieces as they have been published on his Facebook wall last week, may have appeared extreme in their choices of words which are less in decorum and bereft of the courtesy with which revered institutions such as the Zazzau Emirate Council are usually addressed.
The pieces also could pass across as injurious, to not only the integrity of the Emirate, but also to that of the elders, reputable scholars, professionals and leading knights of the Emirate, mentioned in the second piece. Even though since their publication, there is no response from the Emirate Council, the people mentioned or any of their representatives.
But apparently, Bashir’s expressed concerns are not unconnected with the recent actions of the Emirate, in relation to the constitution of committees, to review the claims of different individuals and families regarding kinships with the four Fulani post 19th century Jihad royal lineages of the Emirate, the Mallawa, Barebari, Katsinawa and Sullubawa!
Further investigation has revealed to me that, it was due to some recent developments in the Emirate; where some people and families are found to be extravagantly brandishing claims of belonging to the royal families and often with an exclusive right to stand in contest for the exalted throne of the Zazzau Emirship whenever it is available.
This is what compelled the Emirate Council to mandate some established known very senior knights from the four royal families, to conduct a thorough check and review of all the claims of individuals or families of kinships with them; and report back to it, for appropriate actions to be taken, that will ensure a production of a fair framework and logical mechanism for the assessment of all future claims to kinship with any of them.
The questions that need answers are how and what is the nature of any claimant’s relationship with the families? Are they maternally or paternally linked to the founders of the ruling houses post 19th century Jihad? This is particularly important as legitimate claims to the throne in our tradition is descendantly patrilineally established as a matter of preference.
It appears that Mal. Bashir Ibrahim Dabo, feels – for some yet to be disclosed reasons – that the committee saddled with the responsibility to check and revalidate the kinship of his progenitors with the of Malam Yamusa of the Barebari Dynasty will not in a way do justice to him, hence he frenzily took to his social media handles to preemptively check the committee’s moves with two principal claims:
1. That the committee’s composition is skewed and unrepresentative of the diverse nature of Malam Yamusa’s lineage from the early 19th century to date, and so it is not very likely to look at the issues dispassionately and act with a comprehensive fairness.
2. That there are charts of family trees being considered that are less authentic than some other charts obtained from what he considered to be more credible sources. He has shared some of them.
Ordinarily one will prefer that these issues are not addressed in the public glare, especially when the members of the said committee or the Emirate Council have not made their findings public or communicated in any official document their stand. I was made to understand that documents and petitions have been passed across to the Emirate and the committee regarding pertinent fresh informations and findings.
Justice may not be obtained where people are many and are a representative of some kind of diversity. But justice can be obtained where people are trusted to put their conscience ahead of any other consideration in discharging responsibilities that they are trusted with and will be judged by both posterity and eternity with the almighty God as the final arbiter!
I think Zazzau Emirate and the members of the committees for this exercise have done enough in the past for the Emirate and the country in the course of their long professional careers; their record in leadership are sterling enough to justify the trust the society can repose on them to deliver justly in this exercise or similar ones coming in future. Let’s wait for their verdicts first!
