History, Hubris, and Human Development

The Kano Emirate makes history as the first to witness 2 dethroning in the interval of 4 years since Nigeria’s independence in 1960.

The Kano Emirs also make history as the only monarchs the people’s elected officials have fired 7 times since 1960.

Currently, the Kano Emirate is also making history as the first where two kings would hold court in the city at the same time. 

While many perceive the monarchies in various states of Nigeria as politically obsolete institutions, the traditional rulers still play a key role in preserving historical-cultural identity and promoting human-cultural development (or otherwise) within their jurisdictions.

Yet, the recent dismissal of 5 Kano Emirs by the Kano State Government highlights the slowly diminishing power of traditional rulers across the country.

Before this period, many considered traditional rulers as superhuman majesties ‘second to the gods’ in authority. Their subjects could not depose them except by the intervention of the gods and their mortal handlers.

However, in contemporary Nigeria, the Constitution has not vested traditional rulers with the authority to make politically binding decisions. 

It has relegated monarchs from sovereigns to subjects of the local, state, and federal governments and restricted their significance to symbolic souvenirs of their people’s religious attachments and cultural heritage.

Still, the Emir matters, like his colleagues in the Nigerian brotherhood, the Eze and Etsu, the Oba and the Obong, ‘though tribes and tongues may differ’.

Hubris: When the People defy the Gods

As he regained his dominion on the 23rd of May 2024, the reinstalled Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammadu Sanusi II, said he owed his glorious welcome back from exile to God.

“We made it clear that God has preordained time and cause for everything and everyone. He gave leadership to whom he wanted and at the time he wanted.

“When He gives, no one can take it away, and when he takes it away, nobody can take it back,” the older Emir said.

But the people seem to defy the gods again as they did when their elected officials dethroned the Emir in 2020. They have set up the 15th Emir of Kano, Aminu Ado Bayero, alongside the re-enthroned 16th Emir of Kano, Mohammadu Sanusi II.

They claim the courts don’t agree with God yet on the matter of reinstating the Emir Muhammadu Sanusi II. 

“The Forum of Chiefs in Nigeria, the umbrella body of lower grade traditional rulers in the country, has urged Sanusi Lamido Sanusi to vacate the palace with immediate effect as ordered by the Federal High Court,” Vanguard reported.

They insist the gods don’t have a say in this matter, and if they had any say, it’s what men tell the gods to say.

“The former Emir should accept the will of God because the will of the people is the will of God and the law is the interpretation of the will of the people,” they further stressed.

Like King Agamemnon, they believe the gods don’t defend any throne or determine who is king. They “only protect the strong.”

Despite King Agamemnon’s view, a wounded woman and captured Temple devotee’s reply to Achilles’s insinuations that the gods sometimes act against human wellbeing is this: “all the gods are to be feared and respected”.

It appears Nigerians fear and respect the gods. But they may not know which of the 2 eminent Emirs currently in Kano the gods approve of.

Maybe the people can plead ignorance of the gods’ will in this matter, lest their defiance of the gods be their hubris.

Albeit, ignorance could be the people’s chief sin.

History: When the People Defy the Kings

Eleven (11) notable traditional rulers have been dethroned and exiled to other places by the people’s elected officials in the last 63 years of Nigeria’s existence as an independent country.

The most prominent case of dethronement in recent times is the case of Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the emir of Kano which happened in 2020. 

This case was unique too because his grandfather Mohammad Sanusi I suffered the same fate when he was the Emir of Kano.

Mohammad Sanusi I was dethroned in 1961 after an allegation of financial misappropriation in the Emirates.

Like Mohammadu Sanusi II, other prominent traditional rulers have been deposed by the political government due to allegations of “insubordination”, political affiliation, illegitimacy, or mismanagement of finance.

The Kano Emirates seems to be the most politically targeted royal seat because it has the highest number of deposed rulers. 

Out of these 11 deposed traditional rulers, 7 are from Kano Emirates.

The reinstatement of Alhaji Sanusi Lamido after 4 years of exile unlike his grandfather makes his case unique.

Yet, he is not the first traditional ruler to be reinstated after being deposed by the people or their elected officials since 1960.

Among these notable 11 deposed traditional rulers, only 3 of them were ever reinstated to their throne.

Although the Kano State, through the State House of Assembly and High Court, has reinstated Emir Mohammadu Sanusi II, the Federal High Court has not decided on the dethronement or re-enthronement of Ado Bayero as the Emir of Kano.

Human Development: When the Kings Defy the People

The days of the sovereign glory of the traditional rulers might be long gone, but they are still very relevant for the effectiveness of the modern political system, especially in Nigeria.

There are 15 sovereign states all over the world with some form of monarchical system of government – Belgium, Bhutan, Lesotho, Spain, United Kingdom, Australia, Liechtenstein, Bahrain, Saudi-Arabia, Eswatini, Luxembourg, Belize, Andorra, Denmark, Barbados, Grenada, Sweden, Brunei, Norway, Canada, Jamaica, Vatican City, Monaco and Netherland. 

Many of these countries are prosperous and developed countries in the world while their citizens have a high sense of national identity and loyalty.

Does retaining traditional institutions have anything to do with the prosperity and development of these countries?

Are the kings – Emirs, Ezes, Obas, Obongs, and other traditional rulers in Nigeria significant to achieving human development and economic growth in Nigeria?

Is there any relationship between the prevalence of the dethronement of kings in Nigeria and the deferment of human development in their dominions?