Sanusi: Manipulation of Fault Lines by Elite Responsible for Violence 

By Onyebuchi Ezigbo

The Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, has identified the manipulation of the country’s fault lines by the elite as the source of unending communal violence and insecurity in the land.
He also accused the political elite of manipulating the people over issues of restructuring for their selfish interest.
The speech by Sanusi II, at the 9th Triennial National Conference of Ansar-Ud-Deen Society of Nigeria, held in Abuja yesterday, was delivered on his behalf by Dr. Bashir Umar of the Ado Bayero University, Kano.

In the speech with the theme, “Justice, Equity and Peaceful Coexistence: Ideas and Reality in a Multi-Religious Nation”, the Emir noted that the pro- or anti-restructuring proponents had exploited the fault lines in the makeup of the country to achieve selfish agenda.
According to  the royal father, the elite’s blind quest for power had resulted in tribal and religious clashes, “even though they are reducing in most part of the nation, but when one type of crisis reduces then another one will spring up.”
On the clamour for restructuring, he said, “It is not as if we are pro- or anti-restructuring, but rather the restructuring has been turned into a fault line that is being manipulated and exploited by the elite.

“We have the elite in the society that have received the best of care from the resources of the society. People of my age and those before me attended public schools from primary to university.
“Unfortunately, the elite that benefited from the system in the past have left public institutions to become vandalised, dilapidated and substituted it with a private education system that is affordable only to a very few.”
Furthermore, he said: “The health system has also been vandalised and now people have to go on medical tourism in India, Egypt, and Europe. The unfortunate thing is, sometimes, before you get the air ambulance, the will of Allah will take place.”
The monarch noted that the elite that got power after the military created a political class that instituted thuggery, election malpractices, corruption and destroyed the judiciary, civil service and security agencies.

“These are all the result of the work of the political class and the unfortunate thing is that it is made to become something that is perpetual.
“This has to be changed and our duty as Muslims is to learn from the ideals of Prophet Muhammad (PBH) to save the society from eminent danger that is facing it,” he stressed.
On his part, the National Vice-President, Ansar-Ud-Deen Society of Nigeria, Yusuf Adebayo, appealed to politicians to desist from exploiting fault lines for their political interest.
According to Adebayo, such attitude is not healthy for the growth and development of the country.

He, therefore, advised the youth to stop making themselves tools for agent provocateurs who always profit from religious violence in the country.
He urged Nigerians to imbibe peace for the overall development of the country and humanity in general.
National President of the society, Dr. Lateef Okunnu, said the organisation retained its premier position among all Muslim missions and societies through the propagation of Islam.
He said in fulfillment of one of the two principal objectives of the society, the National Universities Commission issued full certificate of operation to the Ansar-Ud-Deen University named Summit University, Offa, Kwara State.