Northern row: Practice what you preach – Yari advises Sanusi

Governor Abdu-laziz Yari of Zamfara State is squaring up to a fresh face-off with the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammadu Sanusi II, after accusing the traditional ruler of playing to the gallery.
Sanusi, he said, should practice what he preaches for Nigerians to believe him.
Yari, Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF), wondered why the Emir rides a Rolls Royce in the midst of poverty in his kingdom.
The governor made his feelings known in a statement through his Special Adviser ((Public Enlightenment and Communication), Mr. Ibrahim Dosara, 24 hours after the Emir claimed that some vested interests in the North were putting pressure on him to stop talking following his recent comments on national issues.
It also came less than two weeks after their first spat when the Emir dismissed a statement by Yari that the meningitis outbreak in parts of the country, especially the North, was caused by sin.
He said the outbreak was severe in his state because many of them engage in an immoral sin of fornication and now God was punishing them.
Sanusi dismissed Yari’s position on the cause of the meningitis outbreak as horrendous, incorrect and un-Islamic.
He said, “200 people died of meningitis in a state, the governor was asked and he said it is God’s curse on us for the sin of fornication, which apparently does not happen in America, which is why they don’t have meningitis.”
He said that 90 per cent of the problems in the North are self-inflicted and can be solved. “How have we reduced ourselves, what have we done as a people, that we have placed ourselves in a situation where simple things, a medical issue…you don’t have vaccines, say you don’t have vaccines.
“Treat those who have contracted it, don’t give these kinds of explanations. But this is the mindset. I have a degree in Islamic law, and I can tell you that is not an Islamically correct statement to make.
“These are the kinds of things that we have; and when we talk about a difficult environment, we realize that 90 per cent of that difficulty, we can address, because it is self-inflicted.”
However, Yari fired broadsides at the Emir yesterday for saying, at Thursday’s inaugural lecture on the missing Chibok girls, that he renovated the Kano Palace with his personal resources and hoped to recoup the money over time, and that some of the luxury cars he rides were gifts from his friends.
The governor said: “Recently, our erudite emir has been mired in several controversies, which rather than enhance his profile and the integrity of royalty, has put him very much on the spot.
“And the emir has put up a spirited defence of all the allegations against him. But he was not transparent enough, as he always accused officials, especially governors, to tell the public what he found in the Kano Emirate palace coffers when he ascended the exalted throne. This is the least of his people’s expectations of him. It was the first that our finest royalty would offer.
“Sacrifice is another attribute known to our royal fathers. But when an emir pledges to commit his hard-earned resources for the face-lifting of the palace where he alone would reside and eventually transfers the burden to his impoverished subjects, there is a breach, or a problem.
“The late Sultan Ibrahim Dasuki, of blessed memory, used his money to rebuild the Sultan’s Palace in Sokoto to his taste, but until his demise, he never tendered the bill to his subjects for reimbursement.
“Over time, we know our traditional fathers for their compassion. When their friends from far and near offer to assist them, they would rather the assistance was given to alleviate the sufferings of their people in cash or kind.”
The governor wondered why “a traditional ruler who identifies the problems of his people” could ask his friends who offered to help to donate a Rolls Royce to him rather than what would directly benefit his people, adding, “There is more than a fundamental problem. There is a big disconnect. Like Governor Yari has always said, his respect for our creator will never waver. He will also rue joining issues with royalty, in Nigeria or anywhere in the world. He maintains that his reverence of the institution that HRH Muhammadu Sanusi II represents is also unshaken.”
Yari said he was only “asking HRH to either practice what he preaches or forever keep his peace, because in a situation where epidemics are taking our children, maternal mortality, uneducated youth, social vices and incompetent leaders are the national scourge, to borrow the words of the emir, and all he wants to do is ride a Rolls Royce in the face of palpable poverty, he shouldn’t engage in throwing accusations at others.
“Kano kingdom is an important kingdom amongst the kingdoms in Africa. It is also an important and strategic institution in the history of Nigeria.”
He called on the emir to emulate his predecessors and not play to the gallery in a manner that ridicules his own heritage. He asked the emir to stop using public platform to attack governors and those in power and stop equating science with God.
Yari in the statement by his aide continued, “The emir as a brother and co-occupant of elite positions in Nigeria, he could advise governors and those in positions of authority in several chains of communication that are richly available to him. But he preferred the public platform, for reasons best known to him.”
The governor revisited his controversial statement on the cause of the current meningitis outbreak, and insisted that he was not wrong in asking God to assist in addressing the epidemic in the state and other parts of the country.
The governor, his aide, said, “firmly believes that a country that goes to its pastors and Imams who recommend prayer and fasting as the solution to every social misfortune, from matrimonial disagreements, to social and economic complications needs to be wary of the wrath of God in the event of an epidemic of unquantifiable proportion such as Type C meningitis. And as a country that succumbs to the supremacy of Allah, we must continue to link Him with all things, fair or foul.”
He described the emir as an enemy of Islam. – The Nation.