FOUR YEARS OF BRIDGE BUILDING

FOUR YEARS OF BRIDGE BUILDING

Alhaji Mohammed Sa’ad Abubakar III


By Uche Ezechukwu
Monday, March 07, 2011,BACK PAGE


At a time when Nigerians are faced with horrendous and disappointing failures in leadership at the various levels, it is not surprising that superlative performers at their leadership posts are nowadays treated with lack of recognition. At a time when betrayal has become the distinguishing habit of most of those to whom we entrust our lives and circumstances, it is hard to blame citizens when they fail to extol men and women who are making sterling contributions to the society. One of such rare people is a retired army general, astute and intellectual diplomat, scholar and administrator – among many other attributes – and currently the Sultan of Sokoto, the head of the Sokoto Caliphate and the leader of Nigerian Muslims.

Last week, the second of March, marked the fourth anniversary of the coronation of Alhaji Mohammed Sa’ad Abubakar III as the 20th Sultan of Sokoto and the head of the 200+ year-old Caliphate, founded by Sheikh Othman dan Fodio in 1804. (He had ascended the throne in November of the previous year, 2006 at the death, through a plane crash, of his predecessor). It would almost be trite to assert that before ascending the most prominent and enduring traditional stool in Nigeria, if not Africa, the former army general (whose bio-data is as thick as a book) had been adequately prepared professionally, intellectually and politically to occupy the position which, like most other such institutions, was being confronted by the challenge of marrying the ancient with the modern ways of life of millions, while at the same time trying to make both relevant in the vicissitudes of the present day demands.

Abubakar III ascended the leadership of the Sultanate, two years after the bi-centenary celebrations, during which the essence of the Caliphate was being put to question by some who were not great fans of an institution which they claimed had outlived its usefulness, just as better informed people, who have had the benefit of studying and watching the operation of the Sultanate from very close quarters, have continued to insist that its roles have become even more relevant now than ever. A major relevance of the Sultan is that as the head of the Muslim community (umma) in Nigeria, he holds a delicate but very important ace to the stability of Nigeria which can only be assured through a deft management of religious relationships in the country. Remarkably, Sultan Abubakar III ascended the throne at a time of great challenges in inter-religious and ethnic relationships in the country.

He personally acknowledged this fact on October 28, 2008, while receiving an honorary doctorate from Anambra State University. The Sultan acknowledged that the country was experiencing great challenges in its religious and ethnic relationships occasioned by the escalation of religious and ethnic differences, particularly over the vexed issue of indigene-settler relations. Wondering how Nigeria had been brought to a stage where “friend turned against friend, neighbour turned against neighbour and state turned against state, to maim and kill, without any compunction and to leave a trail of destruction...”, he reasoned realistically that the sooner Nigerians of all backgrounds appreciated that it does not make any sense for anybody to be regarded as stranger in his or her own country, the better for all, and unless Nigerians were not desirous of existing as citizens of one country, sturdy bridges of understanding must be built consciously by all Nigerians of all ethnics and faiths to achieve the imperative of peaceful co-existence.

He has acted more as a doer than a preacher in the way he has immersed himself deeply into activities that would realistically and sustain build these bridges. Through the instrumentality of the Nigerian Interreligious Council (NIREC), which the Sultan as the head of the Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) co-chairs with the president of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), a big momentum was generated in the management of religious relationships in the country. Needless to say that the dedication and level-headed activities of this council of the 50 men and women (25 each from the two religions), has contributed immensely to keeping these crises from going overboard. The unique maturity and chemistry between the Sultan and another great bridge builder, Archbishop John Onaiyekan, the Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, have gone a long way in erecting these bridges across the religions and cultures.

It is on record that the Sultan made history when he journeyed to Abuja in May last year to officiate as a keynote speaker at a national event of CAN during which he elaborated on the need for a better appreciation of and on the imperatives of building on the things that bind Muslims and Christians rather than stressing on their differences. It would be useful for such a gesture to be reciprocated by an equally high ranking Christian leader.

I had the opportunity of being invited to deliver the keynote paper at the NIREC conference in Bauchi in April 2010, and have since then, been afforded the opportunity of getting deep insights into the workings of the little-advertised Council as well as the enormous contributions which the organization and its members have made, as well as NIREC’s unprecedented potential for building religious harmony in the country. I have also been able to appreciate more deeply how far personal integrity, committed patriotism and deep knowledge of leaders can take a people and their society in the right direction. That fact ensured that Sultan Abubakar III and Archbishop Onaiyekan achieved a great deal and it is very obvious that even now that Onaiyekan has yielded his seat to another, by the virtue of his departure as CAN’s leader, the impact he left on NIREC and the society will remain enduring, as long as the sultan remains a part of that patriotic commitment and vision.

The Sultan is a man of great knowledge and patriotism, and contrary to what some might think, the Caliphate is not a conservative institution and will continue to remain relevant because it is guided by a deep belief and commitment that no society can survive and endure without building strong bridges of understanding, continually repaired and strengthened across many aspects of the society. For the Sultan Abubakar III and his forebears, these bridges must be built on justice, knowledge and good governance, through the service to the people and not through a situation, whereby leaders, “simply regard politics and struggle for political power as the shortest route to fame and fortune”, as the sultan stated in his lecture paper entitled ‘The Responsibilities of Leadership in National Development’, at NIPSS, Kuru in March 2009.

Like the 19 others before him, Sultan Abubakar III has continued to insist that justice and knowledge constitute some of the strongest bedrocks of a sane, progressive and stable society. In his paper at the Fifth Annual Lecture of the Post Graduate Studies of UNILAG in June 2009, the Sultan succinctly remarked that, “the Sokoto Caliphate...was predicated on the firm belief that knowledge constitutes a necessary ingredient for effective leadership and good governance. Leaders must not only be educated and knowledgeable but must also be guided by knowledge and understanding to manage efficaciously, the affairs of the citizenry”. To him, good education is a sine-qua-non for good governance and good citizenry, just as he holds that Nigeria cannot go forward without justice to the citizens. Most Nigerians today bemoan the fact that lack of knowledge and inadequate education has become the bane of our national and local politics.

He has shown an unparalleled commitment to ensuring that leaders and the led continue to appreciate the great gains that can be made through the enthronement of certain imperatives which, as he believes, Nigeria cannot do without. These imperatives he recognizes as that of purposeful and visionary leadership; a common citizenship with its requisite rights and obligations; and nurturing talent and providing opportunity to each citizen to realise his or her potential.

According to him, “we must also nurture talent and provide opportunities for our entrepreneurs in different parts of the country to contribute their quota to national development. Where a particular region, like the South East, has specific talents in process engineering and manufacturing, the nation, as a whole must come to the full support of this region with the view of making Nigeria self-sufficient in its area of expertise. And the same should be done for other regions...”

Sultan Abubakar III has time and age on his side, and if the big bridges he has already built and building within this short time in office between the different peoples and their cultures and religion, not to talk about the unique vistas and knowledge which has brought to bear, from his vast and varied exposures and experience, on our society, are anything to go by, then Nigeria will be the best for it. Ultimately, it will be appreciated by all that what matters most are not the bridges of concrete across our physical terrains and landscapes, but rather those built across our minds, relationships and perceptions...because it is those that make for human progress, social justice and over-all social development.

That being so, it should no longer the likes of Julius Berger who should be extolled but the likes of Alhaji Muhammed Sa’ad Abubakar III, the 20th Sultan of Sokoto, that should be decorated with the shibboleth of Nigeria’s bridge builders.
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