Tofa cautions Ganduje against destroying Kano’s 1,000 years heritage

Splitting of emirate no big deal, says Mohammed

Presidential Candidate of the defunct National Republican Convention (NRC) in 1993, Alhaji Bashir Usman Tofa, has cautioned Kano State Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje against the newly signed Kano Emirates Council Law.

He said the new law could destroy the over 1,000 years heritage Kano has been known and respected for. Ganduje signed the new Kano Emirate Laws on Thursday, December 5, 2019 against all protestations a few hours after the state House of Assembly passed the bill and returned it to him.

The new law empowers the state government to appoint Chairman of the Kano State Emirate Council, which now has Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II; Emir of Bichi and son of the late Ado Bayero, Aminu Ado Bayero; Emir of Gaya, Ibrahim Abdulkadir; Emir of Rano, Abubakar Tafida Ila and Emir of Karaye, Ibrahim Abubakar.

The law also empowers Ganduje to sanction any emir who failed to attend the emirate council’s meeting for three consecutive times.But Tofa, who frowned at Ganduje’s actions, warned the state government to be conscious of Kano’s 1,000 years old heritage.

In a statement personally signed by him under the platform of Advocates For United Kano (AFUK), Tofa expressed concern that political sentiment was fast overriding the state government’s sense of judgement on the creation of the new emirates.

Besides, a former member of the House of Representatives, Dr. Junaid Mohammed, has argued that there was nothing special about Ganduje’s decision to decentralise the Kano Emirate.Mohammed noted that traditional rulers deserve no constitutional role in modern governance, saying that they were not only redundant, but also that some of them work in collaboration with bandits to cause insecurity and social disharmony in society.

Speaking with The Guardian on telephone, he maintained that traditional rulers have always behaved in ways diametrically opposed to egalitarian society and social norms, stressing: “It has been so from time immemorial, they follow the Fulani and seize their cows. 
“You must have heard of traditional rulers in Zamfara and Sokoto states, who have been removed and some in Katsina and some, I think in Nasarawa State.

“Except everybody wants to be a big man, Oba or Obi or Emir or whatever, they are actually useless, but if people can control their excesses, let them be, but the traditional institution (as it obtains in the country) does not matter to me.”In the instance of Kano, where the Emirate has been a prestigious institution playing a lot of roles, he stressed that the disintegration of the Emirate was not a big deal.