Analysing Sanusi Lamido Sanusi’s Dethronement

THE ALTERNATIVE With Reno Omokri

Some people are footing the idea that the dethronement of Muhammad Sanusi II as Emir of Kano, ostensibly by Governor Umar Ganduje (AKA Gandollar), is some type of grand Machiavellian plot by the Fulani intelligentsia to make him popular and put him in good stead to succeed President Buhari in 2023.
I am sorry to burst your bubble, but that is an infantile fantasy. Anyone who knows the North, and more specifically, the Northwest, and even more specifically, Kano, will know that postulation is utter gibberish.

Emir Sanusi was never popular in Kano. Yes, he was momentarily famous in a faux manner in 2014 in Kano, not because he was substantively well-liked, but because he was seen to be against then-President Jonathan, who the Kano people perceived as an obstacle to their then burning desire – the enthronement of General Buhari as President.

Once their conspiracy against Jonathan succeeded, their true feelings for Sanusi began to surface. Sanusi is a liar and a manipulator, and Northerners may not be as western educated as Southerners, but they have more honed native intelligence than Yan Kudu (Southerners), and can detect lies and nonsense, even when sugarcoated with a British accent.

Sanusi lies a lot. He tells tall tales, which run contrary to his beliefs. Google the term Taqiyya. Sanusi is the definition of Taqiyya. And I will prove it.
He talks so earnestly and passionately about educating the almajiri and talakawa of the North. Yet, while he was Emir, he built not even a single school for them. This is even as he spent billions of Naira renovating his palace. Money that could have built 500 schools for the talakawa he loves so much.
Sanusi spent N37 million on phone calls in just three years, and furnished his palace with N152.6 million, even as he bought vehicles for himself worth almost N200 million. All at taxpayers’ expense. Nigerians are so gullible. Focus on people’s actions, not their words.

Emir Sanusi spoke very eloquently against polygamy in Northern Nigeria. He knows that is what many people want to hear. But how many wives does he have? And how many children does he have? This is a man that does not practise what he preaches – a skilled manipulator of the public.
And now he has been dethroned. What has happened? Not even a mild protest in Kano, the most volatile city in Nigeria. No riot, no storm. Just…NOTHING!
Now, on to President Buhari. I read his statement denying a hand in the dethronement and banishment of former Emir Sanusi. The man sure knows how to spin a yarn!

How can Buhari deny that he had a hand in Sanusi’s dethronement? What an unintelligent lie. Sanusi is being guarded by Directorate of State Security agents (DSS). ONLY Buhari, as Commander-in-Chief, can deploy armed DSS officials.

Moreover, Sanusi has been banished to Nasarawa state. Governor Umar Ganduje of Kano has no authority to banish Sanusi to any place beyond Kano state. Only Buhari has such powers (though he does not have such authority).

Finally, and most importantly, Sanusi criticised Buhari only two weeks to his dethronement. The Yoruba say ‘the bird flew at night, and the baby died the very next morning’. Please, Buhari, respect yourself and lie less!

The irony of the Sanusi Lamido saga is that he was enthroned as Emir of Kano for telling lies against former President Jonathan and dethroned as Emir of Kano for telling the truth to Buhari. It just shows how we have moved from democracy to autocracy!

This intimidation of traditional rulers is not new to Buhari. In 1984, he queried Sanusi’s predecessor, Ado Bayero. I will therefore strongly urge the revered Sultan of Sokoto to be mindful of the times we live in. This government is vindictive and petty. Sultan Abubakar speaks truths to power. I pray that power does not speak as brutes to him.

Buhari can be likened to a tiger that various people brought in order for the tiger to destroy former President Jonathan. However, former President Jonathan, ever the man of peace, said ‘my ambition is not worth the blood of any citizen’, and promptly conceded. But the tiger was bloodthirsty for baboon and dog blood. And when it didn’t see it, it demanded the blood of Emirs and notorious lying online publishers, and stupid Igbo former governors, who thought that by betraying their people, they would obtain the tiger’s love. But the tiger is not looking for love. It is looking for blood. And blood it will get.

How fitting that Sanusi Lamido Sanusi was enthroned as Emir of Kano on June 8, 2014. A very significant date, and one, which if the former Emir had any consciousness of auguring, he would have rejected and appealed to the Kano State government to choose another date.
You see, June 8 is the date when that bloodthirsty, kleptomaniac buffoon, General Sani Abacha, died.

For sure, the lives of Sanusi and Abacha crossed paths in ways that I know of, but have chosen not to elaborate here. Be that as it may, Sanusi, as a Kano prince, should have been aware that he was being enthroned on a day that a notorious son of Kano (Abacha, though a Kanuri, claimed Kano as his place of origin), died.
To have consciously or unconsciously tied his reign spiritually to such an odious person was not wise.

I have no sympathy for Sanusi Lamido Sanusi. He has got his comeuppance, and it is very well deserved. As long as his life is not touched, I am very fine with whatever Buhari decides to do to him. Good riddance to bad rubbish!

After Sanusi, the duo of Nasir El-Rufai, and that potbellied traitor, Rotimi Amaechi, maybe next!
My final word to Sanusi is this:

“Like a partridge that hatches eggs it did not lay are those who gain riches by unjust means. When their lives are half gone, their riches will desert them, and in the end, they will prove to be fools.”-Jeremiah 17:11

Reno’s Nuggets
A man without money is a man without power. If you want power, don’t just spend time in the gym growing muscles. Create wealth. Muscles lead to strength. A labourer is strong, but a multimillionaire is powerful. Get power, and you can buy strength. So get your six-pack. But more importantly, get your six-figure income, or you may end up as a bodyguard to a potbellied man with a six-figure income.