By Abdullahi Dahiru
There is a petition before the Kano state house of assembly to abolish the four emirates created by former Kano state Governor Ganduje and reinstate Sarki Sanusi as Emir of Kano. Many people think the four emirates should be allowed to stay and Sarki Sanusi should not accept the decision to be reinstated if the government decides to do that.
Well, if the government decides to abolish the four emirates and reinstate Sanusi as the Emir, it is about justice and preservation of history.
Let us go back to facts and history.
There are four kingmakers in Kano emirate. Some of them have ancestral homes in the rural areas and ancestral quarters in Kano city. The Danbazawa have Danbatta and Danbazau quarters. The Yolawa have Dawakin Tofa and Yola quarters. The Jobawa have Wudil and Wudilawa quarters. The balkanization of the Kano emirate by Ganduje stripped off those clans from leadership of those towns they inherited for a long time. The Kano kingmakers protested their new posting into the new emirates and decided to stay in Kano emirate but lost the leadership of their ancestral towns. In Dawakin Tofa his own brother was appointed as the new district head.
Sarkin Kano Sanusi I abdicated the throne in 1963 and went to exile in Azare Bauchi state. The PRP government promised to return him to Kano and fulfilled the promise within three months of coming to power. Sarkin Sanusi returned to Kano on 22nd December, 1979. That was justice.
The balkanization of the Kano emirate is reminiscent of the Kano civil war that happened in 1893. When Sarkin Kano Bello died in 1893, his son Tukur succeeded him. The sons of Sarki Maje Karofi were spited by the choice of Tukur over their own brother Galadima Yusuf the patriarch of the current Kano state governor Abba Kabir Yusuf.
Galadima Yusuf led a rebellion against Tukur. His supporters-the Yusufawa-left Kano and made Takai their temporary headquarters. In Takai, Yusuf appointed ‘shadow’ district heads with titles as if he was the reigning Emir. From Takai the Yusufawa launched attack on Kano after annexing several towns along the way. During the rebellion, Galadima Yusuf died at Garko and the Yusufawa appointed Alu as the new leader. The Yusufawa defeated Tukur who fled to Kamri in present day Katsina. The Yusufawa installed Sarki Alu as the new emir. Tukur was later killed at Tafashiya in a battle with Alu. When Alu became emir he confirmed the appointment of those shadow hakimai as substantive ones as a compensation.
The APC government campaigned on consolidating of the new emirates. The APC was echoing slogans that voting it into power again will guarantee the survival of the emirates. Eventhough NNPP did not campaign on abolishing the emirates but everybody knows its stand on them. Every Kano man knows where the current five Kano emirs stood during the 2023 election and where Sarki Sanusi stood. APC has lost and NNPP has won. Just the way Yusufawa compensated those that supported their cause, that is what may happen now.
The balkanization of Kano emirate was done by Governor Rimi in 1979 and was reversed by Governor Sabo Bakin Zuwo in 1983. Kwankwaso belongs to Tabo faction of Kano politics just like Sabo Bakin Zuwo. Ganduje belongs to the Santsi faction of Kano politics just like Rimi. If Kwankwasiyya did what Tabo faction did in 1983 that would not be surprising.
Kano historians and person with interest in history has never supported balkanization of Kano history. It distorted the history and stripped many people from ancestral offices they inherited. The APC government appointed party stalwarts and supporters as title holders and even kingmakers in the new Emirates. It created new ruling lineages that never existed before. Governor Ganduje did all those things just to spite and humiliate a single person he considered an enemy. He once boasted that the emirates created by Rimi did jot last because they were not backed by law. His own emirates would survive because they were backed by law. He failed to remember that his law was proposed and passed by the assembly in just two days and can be easily reversed by another governor.
Sarauta follows the culture of people. The people of the new emirates are still considered as Kanawa and not any other people. They spoke Kano Hausa dialect and not and other dialect. If Kano state government decides to abolish the new emirates and reinstate Sanusi, it is about preservation of history and culture of Kano people and justice. It is beyond the ambition of Sarki Sanusi alone.
