THE KWANKWASO PHENOMENON

BY

Sanusi Lamido Sanusi

The good people of Kano are today under the sway of an unprecedented phenomenon called Rabiu
Kwankwaso, the rural aristocrat who is at present the State's Chief Executive. Having been elected
into office based on a liberal constitution, and having launched a project of Islamic Revival based
on Shariah, Kwankwaso seeks in the same instance the total subversion of personal liberty and
freedom, particularly the freedom to criticize his government. In so doing, he can enjoy the
privileges due an Executive Governor under our constitution and an Imam or Caliph in Islam,
without being held accountable to the people or being answerable to any one for his policies. The
result is the paradox of our times. We "got rid of the military" by electing dictators. Transformation
in statis; Revolution without motion; Democracy without liberty; Shariah without Islam; Villagers
governing metropoles; "Excellencies" without excellence; "Honourables" without honour. These are
the true hallmarks of our contemporary politics.

The governor's strategy is based on twin foundations. First, he surrounds himself with provincials
and places key-posts in the hands of rural elite. Secondly, he employs all the power at his disposal
in silencing the voice of enlightened criticism and emasculating educated commentators who dare
subject his administration to scrutiny. In pursuing this line of action, he was always bound someday
to jump into a pool far beyond his depth. Unfortunately, the ingenues around him, instead of urging,
like good advisers, restraint and tolerance, cheer their leader into his Waterloo. It is the classic
comedy of the Village Headmaster in a Village Council.

I was recently treated to a ring-side view of the hilarious antics of His Royal Excellency. I speak not
of his ill-advised threat to prosecute journalists who criticize his government in "Shariah Courts"
(Although it was quite revealing of the governor's perception of the purpose which those courts will
serve, and a public admission of his determination to muzzle critical discourse). It would seem from
newspaper reports that the governor received an appropriate answer on the spot. I speak rather of a
personal experience in which His Lordship sought to arm-twist my employers into gagging me and
denying me my freedom of speech. Not only that, he demanded disciplinary action against me for
the crime of criticizing his government. It mattered little to His Excellency that I am the most senior
indigene of Kano State in the employment of my organization. Nor did it matter to the yallaboi that
I had done nothing in contravention of the terms of my employment. Neither did he remember that
the best of leaders are those who welcome criticism and use it as the basis for improving the
institution of governance. Such is the character of leaders who will lead the north to the Promised
Land. These are the Caliphs under whom we intend to have a restoration of the early Islamic State
where freedom and justice reign supreme. In any event let me tell the story "as it was from the
beginning", to quote the bible.

It all seemingly started on 30th of June this year when I presented a paper at the Abuja Sheraton
Hotel as part of the proceedings of an International Conference on Islamic Banking. The paper was
entitled "Basic Needs and Redistributive Justice in Islam" and it stressed the essentially egalitarian
and welfarist nature of the Islamic model. It criticized the northern political elite for securing the
commitment of the Muslim poor to a shariah project which seems restricted to implementing the
Penal Code, without improving the concrete material conditions of the Muslim masses. In the paper
I criticized the decision of the Kano State government to construct the "governor's lodge" in Abuja
(not Kano) at a cost of N719million at a time taps are not running in the state capital and the state
was reportedly behind in UBE. (Incidentally, just as this paper was being finalized, the BBC Hausa
Service monitored on 13th August publicized the pathetic state of water supply right in the city of
Kano).

The cost of the project was announced by the State's Information Commissioner and published by
the state-owned Triumph Newspaper as its headline story ("EXCO Approves N719 million for
Governor's Lodge") on Friday, May 18, 2001 as duly annotated in the paper. It seems my
painstaking documentation of sources was to no avail, as I would shortly discover. On 13th July,
2001 we received a letter addressed to the Managing Director of our bank dated 12/07/01 with
reference S/FIN/7555/1/123 and signed by "Dr. Hafiz Abubakar, Honourable Commissioner" in the
Ministry of Finance and Economic Development. By way of introduction, Dr Hafiz reputedly holds
a Ph.D in Nutrition and before he became Finance commissioner was widely known as a
pamphleteer warning people of the dangers of consuming monosodium glutamate (otherwise known
as Aji-no-moto). I am not quite sure if Kwankwaso is one of the governors referred to by President
Obasanjo as Owambe governors. If so, Dr Hafiz would appear to be eminently qualified for his
post. The overindulgence in culinary delicacies associated with "come-and-eat" governments (a
la Bola Ige) exposes principal officers to the risk of indigestion. A dietician in the form of our aji-
no-moto specialist here comes in handy. But I digress.

The letter was titled, rather sensationally, "Smear Campaign against Kano State Government". The
government wrote to express "its displeasure over the content of a portion of the seminar paper
presented by one Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, an Assistant General Manager of your bank whose
reference to the State Administration grossly demonstrated his bankruptcy in keeping abreast
with(sic) events in the state, lack of decorum and disregard to(sic) banking ethics."

The Honourable Commissioner continued:

" You will agree that a person holding such a responsible position in a bank considered a beacon in
the industry should not be indulging himself in a vituperation speech (sic) - worst bereft (sic) of
facts, research and substance. Indeed, the Government is very much worried about the impulsive
(sic) statement and call (sic) upon the management to publicly disassociate (sic) itself with (sic) the
author's position, take a disciplinary measure on him for tainting the image of the Bank and
apologize to the State Government.

"While we are earnestly (sic) convinced that the Bank will speedily embark on corrective measures
to repair (sic) the damage done to its public image and credibility, I convey His Excellency, the
State Executive Governor's best wishes and Government's desire to sustain mutually benefiting
relationship with the Bank, please."

A copy of the letter was made available to me by the MD's Office for information purposes.
Meanwhile the government had issued a circular ordering every state-owned Establishment to close
its account with the Bank. The funds were transferred to a bank where, (by sheer coincidence, mark
you), the Finance Commissioner's brother was in employment. To its eternal credit my employer
resisted the temptation to succumb to blackmail and commit injustice in order to protect business
share. It was sad to lose the account it had and dismayed at the government's reaction, particularly
in view of the bank's long presence and age-old commitment to the promotion of the interest of
Kano people and their businesses. It was sad that this mutually beneficial relationship should be
placed under threat by what it considered an in-house tiff between the state government and an
indigene of the state. However, in the absence of any form of professional misconduct on my part
the bank was not willing to infringe upon my fundamental and constitutional rights to free speech.

I feel compelled to write this piece for three principal reasons. The first is to make the point, for the
umpteenth time, that northerners ought to know our so-called leaders for what they are. For a
number of them, no value is too dear, no principle too sacred to be exploited for political gain.
Compare the actions of our Shariah governor with the dictates of Islam. Ibn Majah reports in
his Sunan that the Prophet of Allah said: "The best form of jihad is to tell a word of truth to an
oppressive ruler." He also reports that the Prophet said, "Let not any one demean himself". The
companions said: "How does one do that, O Messenger of Allah?" The Prophet replied: "A man
sees an occasion in which he should speak for the sake of God but he does not. On the Day of
Judgement God will ask him: 'what stopped you from speaking?' And when he replies: 'For fear of
human beings' God says to him: "It was I whom you should have feared!" Ahmad reports in
his Musnad that the Prophet said; "When you see my community afraid of telling a tyrant to his face
'O tyrant', then it is not worth belonging to it anymore." Al-Suyuti reports in al-Jami' al-Saghir that
the Prophet said: "Tell the truth even if it be unpleasant".

The second Caliph, Umar Ibn al-Khattab was once confronted by a citizen who said to him: "Fear
Allah!" Those around him shouted at him but 'Umar said: "Let him be! There is no good in you if
you do not speak up like this man. And there is no good in us (leaders) if we do not listen!" One day
'Umar gave a sermon in which he said: "O People! It is your duty to rectify any aberration you see
in us!" a Nomadic Arab in the audience stood up and said: "O Commander of the Faithful! We will
rectify any aberration we see in you even if by the edge of the sword!" 'Umar said: "All praise be to
Allah who placed in this Ummah men who would rectify their rulers' aberrations even if by the
sword."

This is Islam and this is the Shariah. It is also Liberal Democracy. Unfortunately, in the north
certain political leaders who have kept human beings uneducated believe they are beyond criticism
and try to treat us all like illiterates. They think, erroneously, that because they write outlandish
letters to employers, they can muzzle free speech and reverse the course of progress. In doing so
they affirm once more the shallowness of their claims of commitment to both Islam and Democracy
and stimulate us into even more strident criticism.

The second reason for this piece is to draw the attention of Nigerians to the plight of our Civil
Servants who are under the control of politicians. The Kano State Civil Service is known
historically for its well-trained and independent Civil Servants with a high sense of integrity. It
seems inconceivable that today a Civil Servant in Kano can show any professionalism and refuse,
for instance to raise a voucher or sign a cheque as a matter of principle. A government that is
capable of writing a letter to a bank seeking "disciplinary measures" against an indigene for
criticizing it is not likely to let a principled Civil servant keep his job. It is the task of intellectuals,
opposition politicians, the Legislature, the press and indeed the whole of Civil Society to stand up
and fight dictatorship and tyranny, in spite of the risks (and there are several). Only then can our
Civil Servants be properly empowered to serve the people of Kano. More important, only then can
each of us be truly free.
The final reason is, of course, to place the Kano government on notice. Far from being deterred the
government's action has spurred me to focus more closely on its activities. Several issues need
scrupulous examination and ventilation. For the moment let us just say that His Excellency has
sown a wind. He must now prepare, so help him God, to reap the whirlwind.