By Adnan Mukhtar Tudunwada,
Ever since his ascension to the throne of Dabo, no doubt I was one of the critic of then Governor Kwankwaso over the choice of Sanusi not for only reason but because of his controversial articles and exhibition of bias to the large section of sunni population in the county, he was and is an ardent critic of the likes of Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn Abdulwahab, so also their disciples and students of knowledge.
Despite being a strong supporter of kwankwasiyya administration, I was part of the youth that protest the choice of Sanusi as Emir of kano, Facebook can testify to this. Being a budding writer gaves me the opportunity of reading different articles and columns, column is my interesting part of every newspaper, I look first at the back page anytime I pick one, I believe in this perception that a good reader is a good writer one day.
When the choice of Late Emir Ado Bayero’s successor was made in 2015, prominent Friday columnist of daily trust Malam Adamu Adamu(now Minister of Education) wrote: “Kano: The Return of Sanusi”. In that write up; he seriously advised the Emir on how to maintain the legacies of his predecessor, this can helped him in becoming much loved by his people, he said: “And if Emir Sanusi has only one thing to take from the legacy of the late Alhaji Ado Bayero, royal muteness is it”. Unfortunately that this royal muteness cannot be maintained.
The Emir has being part and parcel of many controversies here in the North, most of which are associated with ‘culture’ and ‘religion’. He has been bringing out the problems without proffering solutions, what has he done for the North economically, politically and socially to cover us from the mess he has been talking about? What has he been doing to make the lives of the poor better?
His outburst during 2015 Hajj at minna, associating poverty in Zamfara as a result of practicing sharia, lambasting Northerners as wrong people, uneducated, underdeveloped is unbecoming of a leader. To many; this is less from him, he has been saying more than this about the North as a wrong people that don’t know where they are heading.
Many of his articles are anti islam, anti sharia, anti North, he claims to have deep knowledge of politics, philosophy and religion; that makes him to present his view on every issue and to call himself a philosopher that derived inspirations from the likes of Aristotle and other renowned atheists of the world.
Most of his articles are reflection of his criticism and unsatisfactory view to some issues in islam, below are some of the articles I was able to search on the archives of Gamji:
1. The Hudood Punishments in the Northern Nigeria: A Muslim Criticism, dated October 1, 2002, and prepared for publication in ISIM NEWS, the quarterly publication of the Institute for the Study of Islam in Modernity, Leiden, Holland.
2.Shariacracy in Nigeria: The Intellectual Roots of Islamist Discourses, written in October 2001 as a contribution to Akin Osuntokun’s book Abacha and Beyond.
3.“Islam, Probity And Accountability: A Critical Essay in History, Philosophy & Law,” written December 3, 2000.
4.“Shariah and the Woman Question,” written sometime after Aug 18, 2000 (transfer interuppted)
5.Institutional Framework of Zakat: Dimension and Implications,” written February 12, 2000.
6.“On the Islamisation of Politics & the Politicisation of Islam” (revised) written sometime after June 12, 1998, building on his paper “The Muslim Activist and Multi-religious opposition”
7.“Religion, The Cabinet And A Political Economy Of The ‘North’”
8.“The Shariah Debate: A Muslim Intervention”
9.“Islam, Christianity and Nigerian Politics: A tribute to Thomas Paine (1737-1809)”
10.“The Islamic Movement: The Real Issues, A response to D. S. Yola” (written sometime after November 13, 1998) who was responding to a paper of his that was a continuation of an earlier paper “The Muslim Activist and Multi-Religious Opposition.”
11.“Non-Muslims in a Contemporary Islamic State” (responding to Yola’s article of Dec. 18, 1998)
12.“Between the Shariah and ‘Barbarism’ ” (link fixed 20 August, 2005.)
To sum up, he represents the application of a contemporary islam in Nigeria, he believes that the religion needs some reforms that would rescue it from its current global image crises, some of its practices are too old for the 21st century, these were articles written by him many years ago.
Young people of my age needs to know that he is a very controversial figure in respect to issues affecting the North and Islam in particular and, he admonishes argument in almost everything, Malam Jafar has said it and the truth of his true colour is still prevailing.
Adnan Tudunwada is a Public Affairs Commentator based in Kano.
