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The Fallen Sultan

By Abbas Ibn Mohammed
Manifestation of Sheikh Usman bin Fodio’s Prognosis on 20th Sultan
The Founder of the famous Sokoto Caliphate, Sheikh Usman bin Fodio (RTA), had made predictions, and many of them had come to pass.
It is an open secret that the Sokoto Caliphate is the biggest 19th Century empire in Sub-Saharan Africa. It drew its prestige from the activities of its leaders ─ salvaging the people from the yolk of oppressive Hausa rulers.
One of the many predictions by Sheikh Fodio was on the 18th Sultan of Sokoto, where he reportedly said the eighteenth sultan’s reign would be characterised by chaos and bloodshed.
Behold, that prognosis had come to pass during the tenure of the 18th Sultan of Sokoto.
Another prediction of the revered Muslim leader and 19th Century legendary revivalist was what he said would happen during the reign of the 20th Sultan of Sokoto.
Historians and experts on Sokoto Caliphate reported Sheikh Fodio as saying that the reign of the 20th Sultan of Sokoto would be mired by monumental scandals that would embarrass the Sultanate and drag it to its lowest ebb, while reducing its estimation in the eyes of the populace of the caliphate.
The development ultimately, would force the Sultan to unceremoniously abdicate the throne and flee to an unknown destination.
What is currently happening is a dangerous pointer to the revivalist’s premonitions as the powers that be in the Sultanate are desperately trying to ensure the full manifestation of Shehu’s predictions in not only hatching and brewing endless scandals and controversies, but dragging the hitherto respected and revered Sultanate to ridicule never envisaged in its two-century history.
The premonition by Sheikh Fodio is fast manifesting with the politicisation of the Caliphate leadership under the stewardship of Sa’ad Abubakar.
Many northerners believe that unlike his predecessors, Mr Sa’ad has carved a niche for himself in cherry picking which issue he speaks on, which region he supports, which political party he backs and which individual he pitches his tents with. All these are antithetical to the very principle upon which the sultanate foundation was found.
The Sultan has transformed over the years as the single most divisive entity, vigorously threatening the fragile unity of Nigerian Muslims. He polarised the Ummah by his selfish and non-jurisprudential and egocentric approach to moon sighting in Nigeria.
As a result of that, prominent Muslim scholars, professors of Islamic Studies and jurists, eminent traditional rulers and majority of the Muslim Ummah have deserted him, and do not longer defer to him for Ramadan, Eid-el-fitr and Eid-el Adha moon sightings.
His unilateral introduction of the cantankerous moon sighting regime (that is his forceful alignment of Nigeria’s timings with that of Saudi Arabia), which is devoid of the universally-acknowledged Sharia algorithm, is rapidly alienating him from the majority scholars and the Ummah.
Majority of Nigerian Muslims now defy the Sultan, by beginning their Ramadan fast and celebrate their Eids, according to Prophetic traditions, not the calendar of Saudi Arabia. This is, indeed, scandalous.
The manifestation of Sheikh Fodio’s prognosis can be seen from the rebellion by prominent Islamic scholars and their massive followers, irrespective of their sects, during the last Ramadan and Eid-el-Fitr.
The revered Sheikh Dahiru Usman Bauchi, who is in his 90s, was one of the Islamic scholars who braved the odds and publicly called out the Sultan, for his messy handling of the moon sighting protocols.
Recently, Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi did not mince words in telling the Sultan that his (Sultan) words can never obliterate those of the Prophet of Islam. He openly told the Sultan that the title of the Sultan is neither sacred nor divine. Thus, bearing that title or sitting on Sultanate throne does not make the occupier any holier.
The revered scholar even threatened that Nigerian Muslims would be left with no option than to appoint a parallel leader of the Muslim community in the country. The Sultan was deconstructed and his planks exposed. This daring rebellion is drastically extinguishing the modicum of respect the Sultan commands.
Similarly, due to the Sultan’s onslaught on religious tenets, an erudite scholar and professor of Islamic Studies, Abubakar Aliyu Gwandu, the Special Adviser to the Sultan of Sokoto on Religious Matters and Chairman Sultanate Committee on Moon sighting, voluntarily, had to resigne from his dual position on August 29, 2011.
Professor Gwandu’s resignation and subsequent death some days after, may not be unconnected with the frustration he suffered at the hands of Mr. Sa’ad, who blatantly rejected the Moonlighting Committee report of that year.
Mr. Sa’ad’s handling of the affairs of NSCIA and JNI has given many prominent traditional rulers, professionals, and even scholars a deep source of concern.
Apart from the Sultan’s unintelligent and inarticulate outbursts on matters of importance, his domineering tendencies in meetings where he usurps and appropriates to himself the roles of the master of ceremony, moderators, guest speakers, discussants, force many of these prominent personalities to withdraw from such events, thereby ostracising these events their original aura and influence.
Surprisingly, the North as the immediate constituency of the Sultan has been at the receiving end of the monarch’s vituperative interventions. President Muhammadu Buhari and his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), have become the apex monarch’s punching bags.
Islam, the religion his forefathers reformed and founded the caliphate on, has been demoted to the lowest ebb in his scale of preference.
These are very weighty and disturbing tendencies for all observers of the Sokoto Caliphate. The Sultan’s voice is always mute when issues affecting the religion, the region, and its adherents are trampled upon. On the other hand, the monarch’s high-pitch voice is heard on other issues no matter how flimsy.
One wonders why the Sultan is always against anything proposed by the Buhari-led Federal Government and the ruling APC. His opposition to the Buhari government is a legendary and open secret that is being discussed all over the North on the streets.
His romance with controversial elements like the former Minister of Petroleum, Diezani Madueke, who is reportedly one of the biggest public officials that milked this country dry, is an open secret. He grovelled before the Goodluck Jonathan administration with the unimaginable servitude just to incur largesse of a private jet.
Some days ago, the Sultan was sighted at the Government House Birnin Kebbi, “condoling with” Kebbi State governor over a boat mishap that claimed lives. Long distance observers won’t be opportune to know the real motive of the Sultanate visit. It was actually a bread-and-butter-seeking voyage.
This is because some days ago, specifically on June 4, 2021, there was a boat accident in Gigani in Dandin Mahe of Shagari Local Government Area of Sokoto State, in which 14 of the 20 people onboard died.
Expectedly, the Sultan never visited this village nor sent a delegation for condolence. This is Mr. Sa’ad’s backyard.
Only a week ago, more than 22 people including a village head, were killed in separate attacks in Rabah and Sabon Birni Local Government Areas of Sokoto State.
The victims included 21 members of a vigilante group who were killed in Yartsakuwa village of Rabah Local Council during a shootout with the bandits. The village head of Sabon Birni, identified as Umar Sanda, was killed in the attack.
The bandits blocked the Sabon Birni-Shinkafi Highway, robbed local merchants of millions of Naira and rustled many cows. These killings, raids, and maiming are now recurring decimals in Sokoto State. What victims get from their spiritual leader is a “golden silence” because there is nobody from these communities that can give him “envelopes to fuel” his motorcade. Thus, they don’t deserve a condolence message, let alone a visit.
Another Sultan’s insensitivity manifested when an elder statesman and former President Shehu Shagari died. The Sultan was in Abuja on his way to Dubai for his annual vacation. Many expected the monarch to abort his trip and attend the funeral as the chief mourner. He never did. Turakin Sokoto’s demise was not enough to stop him from his rendezvous in Dubai. He proceeded to the Middle Eastern country.
On the contrary, when the father of a PDP treasurer of Sokoto State, Mukhtari Maigona died, the Sultan abandoned all that he was doing and headed for Maigona’s village. He waited for more than four hours for the body of the deceased to be brought for funeral. That is Maigona’s father. Maigona deserves that Sultanate treatment because the Sultan gets his “honorarium” as “PDP patron-in-chief” from him.
Not done yet, the Sultan has crowned himself as the chief opposition leader in the country. Many wonder if the man would not abandon the throne and contest elections as an opposition presidential candidate in the 2023 General Elections. Doing that will save the revered throne from imminent collapse.
Not long ago, the monarch’s show of shame was exhibited in Abuja where he publicly traded words with the First Lady, Hajiya Aisha Buhari, during the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) General Assembly and National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held at the National Mosque, Abuja, on November 29, 2019.
Like many Nigerians did, the First Lady had called for the regulation of the social media because of its destructive tendencies. She explained that China with about 1.3 billion people had done so. She said many people could not visit their villages on account of fake news broadcasts.
“On this issue of social media, you cannot just sit in the comfort of your house and tweet that the Vice President has resigned. It is a serious issue. If China can control over 1.3 billion people on social media, I see no reason why Nigeria cannot attempt controlling only 180 million people,” the First Lady said.
The Sultan didn’t hide his disdain for Buhari and his government, and even the presence of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the event didn’t deter him from attacking the First Lady. It is a known fact that almost all the countries in the world, irrespective of their political leanings, have devised ways of regulating the social media because of its anarchistic tendencies.
From the blues, the Sultan became the leading choreographer threatening the Federal Government over the detention of a self-styled ‘Revolution Now’ advocate, Mr. Omoleye Sowore, who was arrested for inciting the public to violently overthrow the Buhari democratic administration.
The Sultan gave the warning while speaking at the 2019 fourth quarter meeting of the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council in Abuja.
He went to the extent of declaring that Nigerians are “regretting being Nigerians” because of the administration of President Buhari. Many Nigerians wonder what is really wrong with the Sultan. The man just speaks anyhow whenever he sees cameras before him.
On the other hand, the monarch has his choice destinations in the country – the oil rich Niger Delta. He is always there for all purposes. Rivers State under Governor Nyesom Wike, is his second home. He frequents the state for reasons known to everyone.
It is time the Sultan learnt one or two things from the travails of the deposed Emir of Kano Muhammadu Sanusi II, whose stock in trade was unprovoked public attacks on Kano State Governor Abdullahi Ganduje and President Buhari.
With mounting scandals and looming rebellion dogging the 20th Sultan, it won’t be any surprising if we wake up tomorrow and come to brazen realisation that Sheikh Fodio’s premonition has manifested and the Sultan has fled.

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