The cancellation of a parallel Durbar initially planned by the 15th Emir of Kano, Alhaji Aminu Ado Bayero, for the coming Eid-el-Fitr Salah celebrations in Kano has been dismissed as a charade.  
 
A researcher and author, Mallam Ibrahim Ado Kurawa, told newsmen yesterday that Bayero could not have staged the Salah Durbar in the first place, having been dispossed of instruments and protocols associated with the traditional heritage.

In a broadcast on Wednesday night, Bayero, had expressed regret over the cancellation, stressing that safeguarding the lives and property of Kano residents remains his top priority.

“Following the people’s mandate bestowed upon us and our commitment to their protection, we find it necessary to withdraw any arrangements made for the Sallah celebrations given the current situation,” he had said.

But Kurawa, a renowned Kano Emirate historian, said it was practically impossible for the the 15th emir to rewrite over 500 years of history of Durbar, insisting that the earlier announcement of a parallel celebration was politically motivated to destabilise the relative peace in the state.  
 
The author of the only book on Kano Durbar whose citation was used by UNESCO to recognise and designate the festival as a world intangible cultural heritage of humanity added that Bayero did not have a single key emirate councillor and custodian of the tradition like Shamaki, Dan Rimi, Madakin Shamaki, Madakin Dan Rimi, Sallama to showcase the colourful tradition.

He also noted that the Makaman Kano leads the procession, stating that none of these principal officers is with Bayero. According to Kurawa, “Durbar is a ceremony or procession that has been going on for over 500 years. It has its processes, and its protocols. You cannot have Durbar if you are not in Gidan Rumfa, because Rumfa was the first Sarkin Kano, who initiated it, and he has designated specific events, specific codes and specific protocols for each Durbar.”