By Law Mefor
An adage states; everything may go away but how it pleases one may never do. This is how one may place the obsessive aspiration Sanusi Lamido Sanusi to become the Emir of Kano and eventually mounting the throne. Whether it was by divine providence or by other means, is beside the point. What is at issue is that many have tried to fathom why this infantile obsession, which appears to be, from psychological perspective, a sort of cry for maternal help.
Psychologically speaking, we may well deem this uncommon aspiration to be a neurotic need deriving from how his grandfather lost the throne and Sanusi's desire to restore his linage to it and finishing the grandfather’s tenure by enacting one. Reinforcing the obsession was the fact that his own father also missed it, when Alhaji Ado Abdullahi Bayero, then Nigeria’s Ambassador to Senegal, was chosen in 1963, ahead of his father to succeed Alhaji Muhammadu Inuwa, who reigned for only 6 months. This assertion may appear far-flung but so goes psychological insights.
Sanusi himself told AIT's Nancy Iloh that it was only normal for every Prince to harbor the ambition of succeeding the incumbent whenever a vacancy naturally occurs. But the last thing many informed minds, (including yours sincerely) wished for the 53-year old Sanusi is to be hidden behind the facade of an Emir's robe and turban, where he is constitutionally barred from playing politics, unless the ongoing Constitutional amendment at the National Assembly or National Confab creates a role for the traditional rulers, as many have rather unsuccessfully advocated.
Some Nigerians had expected Sanusi to approach the national arena or even seek to take over as Kano State Governor, in 2015 or in the near future. Sanusi would have made a good senator also and ultimately the President of Nigeria if he managed to learn to play the right inclusive politics and tone down his activism.
He is brilliant; even his enemies will grant that. He has the passion for radical reforms, as seen in his bold strides in the CBN when he was the apex Bank’s Governor. Like Soludo, he was not afraid to make far-reaching reforms, which the CBN and the entire financial system have both benefited from. One of such great ideas is the Cashless Policy. They earned him the Time magazine man of the year in his tenure, gracing the famous magazine’s cover once with the lead, ‘A Banker Unafraid’.
Now, he is under a State Governor, who can remove him as Emir unceremoniously and even banish him from Kano and repeat his grandfather’s sad history, which appears to be haunting him since childhood.
Given the narrow way in which he willingly and some say, unwittingly constrained himself, what can he really do with his boundless energy and deep insights?
Sanusi appears to already feel the emptiness and thus promised to reform the traditional institutions. This idea or desire presents a different kind of problem. As the Emir of Kano, his jurisdiction is essentially Kano and little more. He may try to connect with other traditional rulers in the country but even this shall be nothing but fanciful exploration. For most traditional rulers have no such zest for innovations and doing great things as they lack the real powers to drive process and change. For instance, most traditional rulers are not internet compliant unlike a tweeting Sanusi Lamido Sanusi.
What then can Sanusi and his like do to creatively expand their horizon? One may suggest Sanusi and his likes should weave their interest around the following areas, which may be engaging enough to cure the inherent boredom in traditional cocoon.
Traditional rulers are still highly respected in most communities in Nigeria today, for wielding considerable political and economic influence. Although they have no formal role in the democratic structure and in the constitution, Sanusi can lead a movement to assign traditional rulers some specific roles and in that way, the country can harness the strategic position they occupy in the society.
The traditional institutions have suffered systematic annihilation since the military incursions into politics began in 1966. The argument has been that there is need to shield and isolate the traditional institutions from politics. One wonders why Nigerian leaders opt for this position while the colonial masters put the traditional rulers and traditional institutions to extensive use and to great results. And the institution cannot be said to be directly or indirectly responsible for the collapse of the first republic when it formed an arm of the bicameral legislative assemblies of the regions.
Sanusi and other enlightened traditional rulers should push for powers to be given traditional rulers to anchor Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) in Nigeria justice system. Somehow, this is what the traditional institution is all about. When they sit at courts and hear cases, they are only trying to initiate dispute resolution processes and techniques that act as a means for disagreeing parties to come to an agreement short of litigation. ADR basically is an alternative to a formal court hearing or litigation. Because its aim is reconciliation, traditional rulers are there naturally to anchor ADR and Sanusi and others can push this point. What needed to be added here is formalizing it in law and allowing the courts to refer cases to them or require litigants to first take certain matters to the traditional court, and approach the formal court if not satisfied.
Despite historic resistance to ADR by many popular social publics and their advocates, ADR has gained widespread acceptance among both the general public and the legal profession in recent years. In fact, even in advanced countries, some courts now require some parties to resort to ADR of some type, usually mediation, before permitting the parties' cases to be tried and Sanusi can make his mark by pursuing same to be made part and parcel of the nation’s justice system. The rising popularity of ADR can be explained by the increasing caseload of normal courts, the perception that ADR imposes fewer costs than litigation and has a preference for confidentiality.
Sanusi and others can also make a case for the Traditional Rulers be used to attain restorative justice in Nigeria. Restorative Justice (also sometimes called "reparative justice") is an approach to justice that focuses on the needs of the victims and the offenders, as well as the involved community, instead of satisfying abstract legal principles or punishing the offender. Victims take an active role in the process, while offenders are encouraged to take responsibility for their actions, to repair the harm they've done - by apologizing, returning stolen money/item, or doing community service.
The offender's obligation is to make amends with both the victim and the involved community to pave way for 'healing.' Sanusi and others should fight for a new law which should simply permit the Traditional Rulers/Traditional Councils to initiate and submit a compliance report to the court or police, ending their involvement in a particular case.
It is crystal clear that the traditional rulers and traditional institutions are grossly underutilized in Nigeria. It is also clear that the areas where the traditional rulers are most suited to make a difference in nation building are mostly in alternative dispute resolution, restorative justice, and intelligence gathering and so on. Though the traditional rulers in Nigeria may be said to be engaged in some of this already, it is still at rudimentary level and ought to be constitutionally assigned, defined and funded.
The proposed idea is for Sanusi Lamido Sanusi and other enlightened Traditional Rulers to convince the Government to tap into the large reservoir of human resources lying almost fallow at the traditional institutions, which the likes of Lamido Sanusi are adding to as new entrants. The traditional institutions are, without a doubt, peopled by many professionals such as Sanusi; some are medical doctors, engineers, retired generals, professors, reverends, captains of industry, you name it. So, they are in a position to make quality contributions. Since the traditional rulers are the ones at the grassroots, positively engaging them is a straight way to bring government to the people, and a transition to a more peaceful and meaningful life in Nigeria.
Rather than sitting idly and marrying new wives, Sanusi and other traditional rulers can fight to be co-opted in governance. There is no justification for their continued funding by the government at all levels; their upkeep by government for doing nothing to add value is a drain on the nation’s resources and a waste of a strategic human resource. Their role is naturally cut for them in the enumerated areas.
Traditional rulers like Sanusi Lamido Sanusi should no longer be seen or treated as relics of Nigeria civilization, as though they are only fit for the museums, when they could be pivotal to nation building. Wholesale importation of western political systems, which exclude traditional institutions in Nigeria and Africa, has not augured well for development.
• Law Mefor is a Forensic Psychologist and Journalist, and holds the traditional title of Ichie Anueyiagu Abatete, Anambra State; tel.:+234-803-787-2892; email: lawmefor@gmail.com
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