The prolific writer, author and chairman of Thisday editorial board, Olusegun Adeniyi, as usual, published his weekly essay, ‘The Verdict’ and titled this week’s essay: “What Muhammadu Sanusi II told me”
The heart of the essay was the reply the ex-Emir sent to him (Olusegun Adeniyi) about ten months ago which he found most profound among many mails. We have brought out the actual reply content to our readers so as to see it in a simple form. It is a reply in marble.
See the reply below:
“My brother, thank you. I appreciate this. People forget history. In the 80s, the late Abubakar Rimi did this same thing to Ado Bayero, creating five new emirates (four out of Kano and one out of Hadejia) in the old Kano State to humiliate the emirs of Kano and Hadejia, both of whom he accused of being sympathizers of the then ruling National Party of Nigeria (NPN) without any evidence. What happened? A short while later, Rimi was voted out of office and Sabo Bakin Zuwo cancelled all the ‘emirates’ at his swearing in ceremony. We just need patience and to hold on to principle.
“In a sense, there is a lot of good in this; only that people are thinking about today and not how history will record it. For those of us who come from families with a history, we are more interested in how future generations will see us than in the petty tribulations that fate inflicts upon us…
“Whichever way this turns out, I am not a loser and Insha Allah, justice will be done. My only crime was working hard to see we had a peaceful and credible election and condemning rigging and the use of thugs and police to disenfranchise my people and deny them their legitimate choice. In other words, my crime was asking politicians to play by the rules they themselves had set…
“But ultimately my life is always a tragedy in the Hegelian sense of two mutually justifiable lines of action. I had the choice to watch in silence as thugs mowed down and intimidated my people…
“This would have given me peace with government and even praise and financial support. The other option was to speak up and risk their wrath and harassment and even removal. There is an argument for both. In one, I sacrifice my throne possibly. In the other, I sacrifice my soul and my conscience. Since I place greater value on my soul than my throne, then for me the choice is clear. So, fate never really happens to us. We help it along, we tempt it, we play into its hands. If you stand for what you think is right in the midst of madness, your fate is already determined as one of great discomfort and pain. That really is the true meaning of the tragedy of life- as far back as Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides. We are living in history and making history as we live. Thank you my brother. We speak soon. MSII.”
Credit: Muhammadu Sanusi II, Olusegun Adeniyi