Thanks, Cornelius and Chidi.
I thought slander involved presenting false information. Did I provide any false information on Sanusi? In presenting my case, was I unjust to him, imputing values not related to his history?
What has my Lagos armchair got to with my assessment of Sanusi, in today's information age? From what I have written its clear I am informed abut his multiple roles, as public commentator to activist to CBN governor to Emir. The only one I did not mention is his prominence as an Islamic scholar.
Sanusi's complexity is what makes him Sanusi. That complexity is a demonstration of serious agency grounded in a strong self definition as Fulani within Nigeria's ethno/religious complexity. The problem, might be, like people like such other other Northern Muslim and perhaps Fulani intellectuals like Adamu Adamu and Aliyu Tilde, their understanding of what it means to be Fulani or Northern Muslim is not deep enough to mobilise their creative powers maximally, a factional narrowness leading a bright mind like Adamu Adamu unable to rise beyond serving narrow ethnic interests, hobbling these figures at a time when the region needs direction to enter modernity even more than the South.
Sanusi would have earned an eternal place in history if he stuck through the storm thrown at him in attack of his reformist aspirations of Northern Muslim social organization as Emir of Kano, in which such an inane thing as his internet bill was being invoked in relation to a man with the potential to operate as a global executive and a scholar at the intersection of Islamic thought and the contemporary world at a time when such competence is in dire need. I wonder if he could have used his eloquence to defeat those arrayed agst him in a struggle in which he called out a Northern governor for superstitiously describing a disease outbreak in his state as due to moral laxity when in fact adequate medical processes were not applied to the situation.
Nimi Wariboko makes the following point in his The Principles of Excellence, although I'm not sure if I have coupled together his lines from different parts of the text to give a succinct idea of a concept it took a number of paragraphs to elaborate:
The Kalabari will say "tombo tombo so", "let a person become a person", when a person
is called to rise up to an event, to be faithful to its expected and unexpected demands, the
demands of a moment in which a person decides his or her identity, the crucible of the
extraordinary in which true maleness or femaleness emerges.
in which 'so' is the Kalabari conception of the realized potential of the individual, those aspects of their possibilities they have been able to bring into existence, while 'So' is the divine plenitude representing further possibilities available for actualization.
Sanusi is clearly a man who is able to sense his potential but might not how how best to realise it, a caged tiger, like the tiger of Borges " Inferno, 1,32" who resented his prison cage, yearning blindly for the glorious freedom of a powerful beast in its wild habitat but not knowing what exactly he wanted bcs he had never lived such a life, having been brought up in captivity, until God revealed to him in a dream the purpose of life and its role in the scheme of the universe, a revelation he identified with in the dream but which he forgot on waking, the knowledge revealed being beyond the capacity of his mind to retain, leaving him with a vague restlessness, "a powerful ignorance".
On becoming CBN governor, Sanusi rode high on the spectacular bank reforms he initiated and from that platform, he spoke out recurrently and loudly on sweeping policy issues of the nation as a whole, an approach some described as valuable for a man in private life or even in politics but not for a central bank governor, though he was saying things Nigerians wanted and needed to hear.
Should he have resigned to make those pronouncements? Should he have operated as an activist after his tenure had expired, using the prominence he gained from that position to magnify the reach of his voice?
Did he need to stay on in that job after being asked to resign by GEJ, entering into a public contest of will with the President or resigned and dramatized his resignation as a response to overbearing executive intimidation and overreach, using that martyr status as a platform to jump start an activist career even as he escalated his international prominence as a reformist central bank governor in a corrupt environment, particularly since the tipping point in his conflict with GEJ came about from Sanusi's allegations suggesting massive fraud in NNPC, a person who would always be in demand as a global financial consultant, having won an award from outside Nigeria as central bank governor of the year, if I recall correctly, a voice in the development of alternatives to capitalism as represented by his championing of Islamic banking in an era in which the Islamic contribution to world civilization is under attack by Islamic terrorists and anti-Islam scepticism?
He stayed on and GEJ outmaneuvered him, suspending him from work in order to investigate claims of financial impropriety GEJ claimed, a move that might have been possible bcs the governors might have seen him as a threat to their own ambitions, being people without the national platform he was using with such visibility.
He then got the job as Emir of Kano, using that again to pursue a reformist agenda desperately needed by the Muslim North, but not before perpetuating the tradition of marrying young girls which contributes significantly to poverty and social disruption in the region through non-education of girls and breakdown of their reproductive organs due to strain from the strength of their bodies not being fully formed before being exposed to vigorous sexual and reproductive demands, problems which his 19 year old bride is not likely to suffer from on account of his wealth and exposure but an act which represents a negative example to the people he eventually preached to.
We now have this story of his being the lightning rod for Miyetti Allah apex leadership that never speaks in spite of the massacres carried out by its members, leaving that to lower level leadership, until this latest climatic pint in their murder campaign.
While Shehu Sani, Kaduna state senator, has been known to at least convene a meeting with his fellow Fulani to discuss with them the allegations agst them and their own grievances, while Comrade Mohammed Kudu Abubakar, Deputy National President of Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, insists the herdsmen must respect the laws of their hosting states and should be declared terrorists for their recurrent massacres, Sanusi is silent and inactive until he becomes the Miyetti Allah mouthpiece justifying massacre in Benue by pointing to a preposterous claim of another massacre in Taraba.
This latest development is pathetic. The man is fragmented and his environment is not helping him achieve integration. He might be able to achieve that integration only through rebellion agst the negativities of that environment but he does not seem ready yet to pay the price, nor does he seem to have worked out how to proceed diplomatically on the reformist mission while not seeming to publicly break ranks with the representatives of the system he wants to reform, having yearned for the emirship for most of the life according to one view.
toyin
On 18 January 2018 at 11:13, Cornelius Hamelberg <corneliushamelberg@gmail.com> wrote:
Toyin,
When you rake up a whole long paragraph of what from your point of view are his misdeeds, you are guilty of slander whether your accusations are factual or not.
Just like Shakespeare's Prince Hal before being crowned Henry V, as a former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi may have a chequered past but as a religious leader in Nigeria the revered Emir of Kano Emir Muhammadu Sanusi is second in importance, only to the current Sardauna of Sokoto, Sa'adu Abubakar . And now to add insult to injury sitting on your armchair in Lagos you dare say of the Emir of Kano , "Sanusi is a man in search of an identity."
I'm still learning about the matter : here is some food for thought : Mambila Genocide: Emir of Kano Didn't Lie, Mr. Governor
On Thursday, 18 January 2018 06:11:58 UTC+1, Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju wrote:Cornelius,So, were you in Taraba yourself ascertaining the facts of the case? Are you not in Europe?What makes you think Sanusi's story is credible? It is not, for the reasons I have given.The account by the Taraba state govt and CAN Taraba, describing a clash between Fulani and Mambila ethnicities in which, regrettably, eight Fulani lives were lost, is more credible than Sanusi's unrealistic tale, particularly since the Taraba state govt described the specific steps taken by them to address the issue while Sanusi wants us to believe that he responded to a tragedy of the magnitude he claims by reporting his findings to the fed govt and thence keeping quiet in the face of the infamy Fulani herdsmen, militia and supporting Fulani politicians are steadily amassing in Nigeria.How did I slander Sanusi? Did I state anything about his history that is not factual?Sanusi is a man in search of an identity. If he is to have a significant place in history, he needs to reconcile his paradoxes. It is self contradictory to aspire to reform Northern Nigerian medievalisms and yet marry a nineteen year old girl, in addition to your other wives, in your 50s as he did. It is self defeating to claim to be a financial reformer as Nigeria's chief central banker and yet give out huge sums of Nigeria's money to constituencies chosen, most likely, by you alone, constituencies largely represented by your own ethno/religious enclave, the largest of these beneficiaries eventually awarding you a controversial emirship. It is self contradictory to claim to be an arbiter for justice as in his essay lamenting how Igbos have been systematically punished through structural exclusions for their role in the civil war and yet use yourself in legitimizing Fulani terrorism, basing your intervention on a ridiculously obviously lie.The man has great potential but he suffers from self disruption.thankstoyinOn 17 January 2018 at 23:17, Cornelius Hamelberg <cornelius...@gmail.com> wrote:Almost like putting a questionable value lives of the Fulani herdsmen killed, in response to the report of Fulani herdsmen lost 1,000 Persons, 2 million Cows, such a horrendous national tragedy, sitting there in luxury and comfort in Lagos, far from the scene of the crime, in the name of all the dead and injured, you honestly want us to believe - to take your word as true that, "The story of loss of lives, and of that magnitude, by Fulani herdsmen, is a lie." ? Could you care to give us an accurate body count?
Secondly, your talk of "Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the most consistently vocal non-politician Fulani in Nigeria" Do you feel that this is the public place for you to wilfully slander and vilify the Venerable Emir of Kano because you regard him as a non-political figure? He certainly has a large following.
As to appetite for beef. Maybe something for you to agree with: Cemeteries. From the GBS Vg point of view : Graveyards
Adios amigo...
On Wednesday, 17 January 2018 22:23:32 UTC+1, Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju wrote:The story of loss of lives, and of that magnitude, by Fulani herdsmen, is a lie.This strategy of lying is standard when the Fulani terrorists want to justify their massacres of innocent populations in the face of national outcries over such barbarism.This particular lie has been mutating since it was introduced by Sanusi lamido Sanusi to justify/ excuse the recent massacre in Benue by Fulani terrostsIdentifying himself as a patron of the Miyetti Allah/MACBAN,, the Fulani cattle herder's association at the heart of this crisis, he claimed 800 Fulani were killed in Taraba and that he furnished the govt with the information, but the govt did nothing.The Taraba state govt and CAN Taraba promptly called him out on his lie.Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the most consistently vocal non-politician Fulani in Nigeria, the man who, immediately he became CBN governor enacted controversial sweeping changes that destroyed some banks and led executives like Cecilia Ibru to forfeit huge assets including their banks, the same man who practically ran a parallel govt as CBN governor, making regular public pronouncements as to how the country is or should be run in terms of structural changes to the system, so much so he was being touted as Presidential material, the man who fought then President GEJ to a standstill , the man who told the President publicly that the President could not remove him when the President asked him to resign over allegations of conniving with the political opposition, the person, who, for the first time perhaps in the CBN's history, dished out huge sums of money, largely to Northern Muslim states, and particularly Kano, defending that as corporate social responsibility when he was challenged, the same person whom GEJ could remove only by suspending him when he was out of the country, the President claiming he was being investigated for his management of bank finances, the same man who survived that political defeat by being made made Emir of the same Kano to which he had donated such huge sums, his coronation possibly upstaging an anticipated heir, the son of the immediate past Emir, the same Sanusi, who, as Emir, rocked the Northern Muslim establishment by repeatedly, loudly and radically advocating drastic reforms in the Northern Muslim social system which he described as backwardly medieval, only to be silenced through concerted blackmail in which he was reminded of the dethronement of his father as emir even as a probe into his use of the Emirates finances was announced as about to be instituted, an initiative that was dropped after it was clear Sanusi had got the message, following which he was cured of his reformist aspirations, the same corporately suave, internationally visible central bank governor and outspoken royal leader Sanusi could not call even a press conference with the Nigerian media talk less adding the international media to report to the world and demand justice for a grievous act of such massive proportions as the massacre of 800 of his people in the face of the rising profile of Fulani as greedily bloodthirsty people and desperately cunning land grabbers following Fulani generated massacres leading almost a year ago to Ekiti state anti-open grazing law and a recently instituted similar law in Benue but emerges with this story after the outburst of national horror following the savagery of what is being described as the latest round of Fulani generated ethnic cleansing in Benue even as the Fulani President of Nigeria looks on in tacit support that includes never apprehending, talk less prosecuting his kinsmen as they publicly call press conferences to justify their actions after each new massacre?Haba!Impunity can be taken only so far.After some time, it becomes madness.The same goes for this kangaroo revision of the Sanusi introduced strategy narrative by Benue MACBAN.These are people whom the entire country has steadily become restive about on account of the escalation of their terrorist activity after their kinsman, Muhammadu Buhari, became President, ceding the leadership of all the nation's security services to his kinsmen, services that arrest only people who try to protect themselves from the nation wide scourge of the Fulani militia's successive massacres, from the Middle Belt to the South East.Ekiti state governor Ayodele Fayose boldly instituted an anti-open grazing law and created an armed policing unit to enforce it, open grazing being a primary vehicle for individual and group terrorism by either violent herdsmen or the sophisticatedly armed militia associated with them, their military wing who carry out massacres across the nation. The terrorists have since left Ekiti state alone bcs Fayose is a very dangerous foe and the SW is increasingly mobilising agst the APC coalition that brought Buhari to power, it now being clear that they have been betrayed by Buhari's faction in the APC, the recent inauguration of Gani Adams with his militant credentials as Are Ona Kakanfo, war leader of Yorubaland, sending a strong signal about the orientation of Yorubaland in the current stormy times.Facing the recurrent massacres by Fulani militia in Benue, after an extensive consultation process with various stakeholders lasting weeks if not months, the Benue state government banned open grazing. MACBAN kicked agst he law, vowing to continue business as usual and publicly summoned Fulani to converge in Benue, following which they massacred large numbers, men, women and children in Benue, in the most gruesome manner, later openly justifying the murders, vowing to resist all anti-open grazing laws.As outrage rises, they manufacture new stories of justification.In the midst of this hell of state sponsored terrorism, the aggressors are claiming that they lost 1,000 persons and 2 millions cows to Benue militia before the recent massacre by their own Fulani militia, and they kept quiet, raised no alarm, called no press conference to demonstrate how they were being massacred even though people have been describing them as bloodthirsty landgrabbing aggressors, but are now calling one to make this allegation?Haba!The Greeks state 'those whom the gods will destroy, they first make mad'.thankstoyinOn 17 January 2018 at 13:08, Cornelius Hamelberg <cornelius...@gmail.com> wrote:Consider: In Benue alone Fulani herdsmen lost 1,000 Persons, 2 million Cows
It is now obvious that law enforcement is powerless, that unfortunate events are now in control and forcing us to be witnessing the politicization of the cattle industry in Nigeria. Not the politicization of the distribution or the final cost of the finished product that turns up in your pepper soup and no questions about where the cow was born and its/ his/ her long journey to your dinner table. No Sir, the stomachs of Southern Nigeria's beef-eating carnivorous men don't complain or even care to know that blood was shed or how the beef turned up in their stomachs.
I agree with the direction in which you sometimes point with your whole hand, Chidi.
As Bob Marley asked,
"Why can't we roam (oh-oh-oh-oh) this open country? (open country)
Oh, why can't we be what we want to be? (oh-oh-oh-oh-oh)
We want to be free (want to be free)"
Just as in that Woody Guthrie song "this land is your land" - so too - as a nationality
Fulani Cattle of whatever breed should be able to roam the open country, on their four legs, ambulating, undulating from state to state, as a right given by man to animal; should be able to graze wherever they want in Nigeria agreed, but not on other people's private property !
Nor should they chew other people's crops with impunity as they are now doing without the express authority of Human Citizen X, the farm owner's permission.
On Tuesday, 16 January 2018 22:25:34 UTC+1, Chidi Anthony Opara wrote:By Chidi Anthony OparaThe herdsmenHead to the hinterlandOn grazeland grab,Helped by henchmenOf the helmsman.The cows must grazeOn the grasslandsOf the hinterlands,The land ownersMust be helped to their graves.The colourOf the Benue river changed,Its colour now crimson.(Poem presented as social service, all rights reserved)
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