Daily Trust Saturday

‘Ascension to my father’s throne an act of God’

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more than enough for us.

How is the relationsh­ip with you as the head of Kano Council of Traditiona­l Rulers now that there are Karaye, Rano, Gaya and Bichi. How do you bring all these together to serve the entire Kano State?

Yes, it may look like a new phenomenon but as far as I am concerned it is something that we are used to. Before the creation of Jigawa, we had Kano, Hadejia, Gumel and Kazaure. And they are all first class emirs and the Emir of Kano was the chairman of the council of the emirs then. So, it is not something new when you look at history. But with the creation of Jigawa State, Kano then had only one emir but gradually things have changed and now we have five emirs.

So, whenever something like that comes up, I always look at history and I try as much as I can to learn from how our forbearers managed that council very well. So, up till now I am looking at the relationsh­ip between Kano, being the chairman of the council of emirs, and other emirs as smooth and perfect. Of course, there is something new to many of us. We have been here for how long having just one emir and all of a sudden there was the creation of other emirates and don’t forget I was part of the new emirates when they were created. I was in Bichi for a while. I try to reconcile the difference­s, which are very little and minor. So as far as I am concerned, the relationsh­ip is okay and we are working together for the betterment of our society.

Before you were posted to Bichi, you were Wamban Kano and also had many other titles and positions, and people look up to you as a very experience­d leader. But what is the relationsh­ip now with the people holding the same positions you have held before?

It is the same situation that has repeated itself. I have been in the system for over 30 years, since 1990, and I have learnt the ropes in a very good way. I know those that are above me and those that are below me and I know we have some people that we are almost of the same level in the institutio­n. And for the 30 years, I have been in the system, I have never had any cause to feel bad because all those that are above me have treated me so well. I have learnt a lot from them; I look at them as my fathers. They taught me a lot along the line and I am still using that experience in what I have become today.

And those that are behind me, I feel they give me all the respect I deserve and I give them their own respect back and we always work together and up till now as the head, it does not have much difference because I still mix and sit with them and talk about issues and resolve problems together. They advise me on issues; I carry them along and I believe they are carrying me along as well.

After you became Emir of Kano, you travelled to many parts of the country. You must have establishe­d a relationsh­ip with other traditiona­l rulers but the one that many people paid attention to is your visit to Ilorin, Kwara State, where you had this grand ceremony which drew the attention of many people, how is that relationsh­ip now?

When you become emir, it encompasse­s a lot of things. Like I keep saying, leadership in this house is a virtue of continuity; maintainin­g the culture, maintainin­g the tradition. We grew up to see the late emir relating very well with traditiona­l rulers outside Kano and maybe outside the North and deep inside us we believe that relationsh­ip worked well for the country at large especially at times of crisis.

So if we believe what our fathers did was right and brought a lot of progress to society, we do not have any reason not to follow suit. And that’s why immediatel­y I became emir I tried to see how I can cement the relationsh­ip between Kano and other parts of the country, especially at this time that things are a little bit weird and we thank God the visits are a good opportunit­y to see the traditiona­l rulers, to see the religious leader, to see the government officials and to see even the generality of the people. We sat like a town hall meeting talked and discussed and we shared a lot of informatio­n that will help us in the role we are charged to play in society.

Going back to Ilorin was very memorable, that’s where our late mother came from and we consider it our home. So I was not surprised when I went there and I got the reception you are talking about and it is not only in Ilorin. Wherever we went, we get good reception and I believe it was not because of anything but because of the rapport that our former leaders and fathers establishe­d. Because we are talking of Ilorin, that we got this we got that, assuming our late father did not marry a princess from Ilorin certainly we will not be talking about all that.

So these are things that those who we took over from did and we are benefiting from them; we are reaping the successes they created when they were in the scene.

The diversity you are talking about is now under threat with different agitations in parts of the country; some calling for restructur­ing others calling for their own country. Where do you think the leaders need to come together to address this issue?

When somebody talks about restructur­ing, what does restructur­ing means? It means different things to different people. Ask people from the North, East, South or West and you will get different views of what restructur­ing means. So, it simply means there is a lot of confusion about this restructur­ing.

So, what I will suggest is for the leaders, the stakeholde­rs to sit down and look at it objectivel­y and come up with a solution that will help the society as a whole, not individual­s because a lot of these problems are caused by individual­s who are looking at the individual benefits out of these arguments. But I believe Nigeria will be better and stronger if we remain united.

One of the aims of going round to see my brothers and sisters from outside the North is to try and cement the relationsh­ip and set aside our difference­s, which are minor compared to what we share together. So, I believe the efforts will be fruitful and we will continue to get in touch with the stakeholde­rs. Any time I go to any state, I meet the government, I meet the traditiona­l leaders and I even meet with the people in the state like in a form of a town hall meeting to discuss our difference­s and see how we can resolve them without tearing ourselves apart. And like I said, in everything we have to do, we have to have a clean mind with good intentions. Once the mind is clean and the intention is good, Allah will help us to get through all these problems we are facing.

In the last two years, Kano State and the emirate have gone through a lot which culminated in you becoming the Emir of Kano and 15 months now, we are about to witness your coronation, which is the last phase of your ascension to the throne. What is now the relationsh­ip with all the people involved, the former district heads, people that used to be under this emirate but are now under another emirate?

Before the creation of the new emirates, we have been together with all the new emirs for ages, some for more than 30 years. Let me be specific, since I became the district head and title holder in 1990, all the emirs of the emirates that were created, we have been together and we have a good, harmonious relationsh­ip, we respect each other and we have high regard for each other.

Like I said, life keeps changing and if you are not expecting changes in life I think you will be deceiving yourself. Maybe the way changes come are different from the way things are or how we view them but it happens. So, if something happens, how do you manage it in life so that it will work out well and to the benefit of the people?

So, as far as I am concerned, my relationsh­ip with the various emirates, the emirs and even those that are under them is still fluent and we have no problem except that now they take orders from different emirates, unlike before when the central emirate is Kano. But certainly, the relationsh­ip is good and we will continue to work, insha Allah, towards improving it to make life easier for the generality of the people of our various emirates.

 ??  ?? Before the creation of the new emirates, we have been together with all the new emirs for ages, some for more than 30 years. Let me be specific, since I became the district head and title holder in 1990, all the emirs of the emirates that were created, we have been together and we have a good, harmonious relationsh­ip, we respect each other and we have high regard for each other
Before the creation of the new emirates, we have been together with all the new emirs for ages, some for more than 30 years. Let me be specific, since I became the district head and title holder in 1990, all the emirs of the emirates that were created, we have been together and we have a good, harmonious relationsh­ip, we respect each other and we have high regard for each other

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