With the recent withdrawal by the Nigeria Police Force, of summon to His Highness, Emir Muhammadu Sanusi II, over the last Sallah celebrations that recorded an incident involving the entourage of the Emir on his way back to the Palace from the eid prayer ground, the next thing expectedly from the security agency, is to tender public apology to the Emir. Doing this will soothe nerves, restore public confidence in the Police and exonerate them from the public suspicion of being biased in their handling of the issues.
Prior to the withdrawal, the police had initiated an investigation into the incident, invited one of the Emir’s aides, the Shamakin Kano, Alhaji Isayaku, in their attempt to get to the root cause of the Sallah incident that led to the loss of life of a vigilante guard. While the decision to withdraw the invitation is no doubt a welcome development, the security agency has to go an extra mile and tender an apology to His Highness and the Kano Emirate Council.
Both the Emir and the Kano Emirate have been ridiculed, the most revered traditional institution has been stripped bare. Regrettably, this was done unfairly and apparently to achieve a political goal.
One thing worth noting is that there was no Sallah Durbar in Kano. What happened during the Sallah period was not in any way a Durbar as being celebrated in Kano.
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With every sense of humility and as a concerned citizen of this country, I find it expedient to write to you, Sir, with a view to telling the truth as it ought to be. Telling the truth can be very costly, at times even misunderstood to mean personality attack. However, at the risk of sounding immodest and to a large extent interpreting my position wrongly, I will say it as it ought to be.
Like any other traditional institution in the country, Kano traditional emirate carries centuries of historical legitimacy and moral authority. This, I think, security agencies ought to understand to avoid making wrong decisions in the future.
It is sad to wake up and see how some failed politicians who don’t want peace in the state are using coercive powers in their attempt to turn the emirate into a battleground of sorts. Their selfish interests are always in the forefront, apparently using the instrumentality of the police, not for any good but purposefully to suppress the Emir and achieve a selfish political goal.
Such development has severe consequences. It has the potential of eroding civic trust in the police, while diminishing cultural dignity, as well as effacing national unity among the citizens.
The police, as a state institution, is supposed to serve all Nigerians, demonstrate their neutrality and not just be seen to be serving the political tool working to achieve the ambitions of a few, hence giving room for various interpretations of their actions as either selfish or a demonstration of misuse of power.
Another worrisome issue is the perceived politicisation of security forces. It is certainly a dangerous sign when state security agencies are used as tools of political retribution.
The police were unable to distinguish between a symbolic act of cultural duty and an act of rebellion, which they attributed to the Emir’s action.
Worse still, rather than the Police’s seemed to have acted fairly and justifiably, their intervention apparently appears to have undermine the Emir’s legitimacy, hence casting a toga of alleged defiance over what was, in reality, a simple and respectful observance of Sallah tradition, appears like given a dog a bad name in order to hang it.
Now that the police have reversed their action, the mist honourable thing to do is to apologise to the Emir and set the record straight, or else their action would be seen as a futile attempt to silence a man of courage, a man of peace and principles, governments usually come and go, but traditional institutions are always there. Hence, they must not be subjected to the boots of those in authority.
The danger is that the police action would be seen not as a step to instil law and order or ensure public safety, but an orchestrated effort about exercising power wrongly, in an attempt to assert the visibility of few politicians, and silencing the perceived opposition. There will always be backlash, where self-interest and short-term gains ride over long-term benefits or the greater good of the people.
The Emir symbolises the Kano traditional heritage, and any attempt to suppress, intimidate, or attack his personality is just like an attack on the sanctity of the institution and the people as a whole. He is like a voice in the wilderness. But, history will remember his courage and as a man of peace who chose duty over fear, dignity over silence.
. Dinki, a public affairs analyst, sent this piece from Kano.
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