In the strategic and intellectually demanding world of chess, the king is the most important piece, while pawns are considered the least powerful.
However, in the recent political showdown in Kano, the dynamics between the “king” and “pawns” have taken on a new meaning.
As Festus Adedayo, a columnist for the Nigerian Tribune, aptly put it, “The Kano royal family had over time been a hotbed of divisions and acrimony.”
The Kano Royal Rumble: A Historical Context
The ancient city of Kano has a long history of royal rumbles, with the first civil war in 1565 marking the beginning of internal strife and bloodshed within the Kano royal house.
In modern times, however, the sudden removal of Muhammadu Sanusi by Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Premier of the Northern Region, in August 1963 marked a significant moment for the traditional institutions not only in Northern Nigeria but across the country.
Sarduana’s audacity would later embolden other politicians to yank off monarchs who take sides with their opponents or stand against their rules.
A similar setback befell one of Muhammadu Sanusi’s grandsons, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, fifty-seven years after his dethronement.
Fellow Nigerians, It’s All Politics
To understand the latest royal rumble in Kano, we need to take a step back. With a massive 2 million voting bloc, Kano is a prized political asset. The death of His Royal Highness, Alhaji Abdullahi Ado Bayero, in 2014, marked a momentous moment in the history of the emirate. The 51-year reign of Ado-Bayero paved the way for a bitter succession struggle between the Bayero and Sanusi houses, with politics pitting brothers against brothers and the remnant of the pieces are still being picked up till today.
Initially, Ado-Bayero’s eldest son and heir to the throne, Sanusi Ado Bayero, was considered the natural successor to his father, but the battle for political supremacy between the camps of former President Goodluck Jonathan and ex-Kano state governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, a key opposition figure, tilted the game against him. Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the beneficiary of that political clash, would soon find himself caught in a political crossfire, this time between two allies who had turned into political adversaries.
‘Kwankwaso vs. Ganduje: Flexing Political Muscle’
Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso and his estranged godson, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, both former Kano state governors, are the two powerful actors at the center of the current Kano royal rumble. Things fell apart for the duo following the removal of SLS as Emir of Kano in 2020 for perceived loyalty of the Emir to Kwankwaso, a threat Ganduje was not ready to tolerate. Of course, the Ganduje and Kwankwaso political alliance dates back many years.
“My political history cannot be complete without Kwankwaso, and the history of Kwankwaso politics cannot be complete without me,” Ganduje confessed while speaking on the sidelines of a high-table dialogue on ethical values and national security held at the State House Conference Centre, Abuja, in 2018.
Ganduje was Kwanwaso’s deputy governor for eight years. In fact, Kwankwaso also favored Ganduje as his successor in 2015. In addition, Kwankwaso, as a one-time minister of defense, worked closely and cordially with his estranged godson, but like they used to say, in politics, the only permanent and sacrosanct thing is interest.
The Chessboard of Politics
In the game of chess, pawns are often sacrificed to protect the king. Similarly, in the Kano royal rumble, the two emirs, Alhaji Aminu Ado Bayero and Alhaji Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, appear to be pawns in a larger political game. While Governor Abba Yusuf seems to be the “king,” the real players are Kwankwanso and Ganduje, who are using the emirs to further their political interests.
While the duo of Ganduje and Kwankwanso continue to flex their muscles through proxies, observers have called for caution, restraint, and the sheath of swords before the seemingly royal rumble snowballs into an all-consuming conflagration.
In the words of Festus Adedayo again, “The Kano royal family had over time been a hotbed of divisions and acrimony.” Let us hope that this time, wisdom and caution will prevail.
