Shekarau versus the "Ulama" and the Political Resolution of the Shari'ah Project

Ahmed Iliyasu

Sheshe Quarters Kano

When Ahmed Sani Yariman Bakura the Governor of Zamfara State launched the Shari'ah he became the most widely reported governor in Nigeria because his effort was considered novel. Since then many commentators have predicted that the Shari'ah project in Nigeria shall be resolved politically and not theologically. The resolution according to this view shall be as a result of the inability of the politicians to resolve their contradictions. It is expected that the anti-Shari'ah group would adequately exploit the weaknesses of the Shari'ah vanguard to sufficiently tarnish the image of the Islamists and deny them any subsequent victory. The press is the major avenue where that battle is expected to be carried out hence the extensive coverage on Ahmed Sani Yarima and now on Ibrahim Shekarau who is carrying both the flag of Shari'ah and that of good governance. The criticism of the Wahhabi Ulama in Kano has now come in handy for the anti-Shari'ah group and its extensive coverage rekindles an earlier observation by Dr. Aliyu Tilde. According to this popular intellectual in a paper he presented at conference in November 1999 all the newspapers including the Weekly Trust which is regarded as a Muslim paper carried headlines that were considered as attempts to scare people aware from the Shari'ah. This seminal observation by Dr. Tilde went unnoticed and he did not publish that essay in his popular weekly column we his admirers are yet know why he left the Trust group for Thisday a paper that is widely perceived as anti-Islam. Now Governor Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau is target of the press especially the northern press, why? This short essay will attempt to answer this question and would focus on the extensive coverage given to his rift with three preachers that has been projected to the public as a rift with the Ulama.

Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau has been an active Muslim for more than three decades right from his school days as a member of the Muslim Students Society to his very active participation as a member of the Muslim Umma which now owns the National Islamic Center Zaria. When the clamor for Shari'ah implementation became manifest in Kano after the Zamfara State declaration, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau became closely associated with that movement while he was still a civil servant. This angered the state government under the leadership of Dr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso who was formerly a political pal of Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau. Eventually the later had to quit the service and join active politics not in the party of governor even though they were all followers of Alhaji Muhammadu Abubakar the most powerful politician at that time. Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau joined the ANPP. Several factors contributed to his emergence as the party's flag and his subsequent victory at the polls.

First he had built a reputation of integrity and patriotic service to the people as a teacher, principal, active member of the civil society being one of the founders of Inuwar Jama'ar Kano the most reputable NGO in Kano and above all as an Islamic activist. He was easily supported by those who saw Dr. Kwankwaso as anti-Shari'ah because despite his signing of the Shari'ah Bill into Law he refused to establish any institutions that will implement both the social and moral aspects of the Shari'ah and it was only confined to committees. Shekarau's social capital was his greatest asset which none of the aspirants in the ANPP possessed. The two front runners were Alhaji Ibrahim Little whose only social capital was association with the General Abacha family and Engineer Magaji Abdullahi an experienced politician but who was unable to get the support of anyone hence he could not pay for the party nomination form. The others were poster contestants who wanted to use it for bargain. General Muhammadu Buhari endorsed Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau's candidature despite the resistance of the big wigs who wanted one of them be the candidate the issue was not resolved until the General showed his commitment to principles just a week to the elections. This was the second and a very important factor. Third factor was the crisis within the PDP as a result of the arrogance of Dr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso who had no regard for important members of the party such as Alhaji Muhammadu Abubakar Rimi and Alhaji Musa Gwadabe. The fourth factor is the nature of Kano which has consistently been anti-establishment whoever is in power is a public enemy.

During the campaigns some members of the Sufi Brotherhoods spread the rumors that Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau is a member of the Wahhabi sect. It should be noted that the Wahhabis in Nigeria are divided into sub-sects namely the Izala of Kaduna, the Izala of Jos and the Salafis or Ta'awun. Alhaji Ibrahim Little is one of the patrons of the Salafis or Ta'awun. Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau quickly refuted the claim that he is a Wahhabi this is normal with most Islamic activists who have sufficient education they are usually not sectarian. One of the Wahhabis who have no resigned his membership of the Shari'ah Commission publicly disowned Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau during his Khutba on Friday 18 April 2003 because of the Mallam's denial of the accusation that he is a Wahhabi. After the election Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau visited all the major traditional Ulama of Kano namely the houses of Shaykhs Nasiru Kabara of the Qadiriyya, Shehu Maihula, Mudi Salga and others of the Tijaniyya. These are the mainstream and most important Ulama Houses of Kano that have established reputation of scholarship in the last century. The Wahhabis are indeed new but outspoken because of the patronage of the Saudis who are their main financiers. Many of the Wahhabi Ulama are indeed uprooted settlers without any grass root base but are becoming increasingly popular with the Western educated elites and the many disgruntled Kano indigenes who are wealthy but resentful of the aristocracy. These patrons of the Wahhabis are from inferior social background hence their support for the Wahhabi militancy and resentment of the aristocracy and traditional Ulama families. Shekarau's overtures to the traditional Ulama angered the Wahhabis who believe that they are the champions and custodians of the Shari'ah agitation. To add salt to injury when he constituted the Shari'ah bodies he did not appoint any of the Wahhabis as a Chairman and only one of them was appointed as a full time member out of the twelve permanent members and chairmen. Some of them were however appointed as part time members.

The militant Wahhabis remained angry and they denounced those who believed in working harmoniously with other Muslims. One of them, who was, amongst those who resigned and had earlier publicly disowned the governor before the election made a khutbah denouncing the governor for appointing a woman as a local government sole administrator. He also made another khutbah in which he equated the governor with Pharaoh even though the governor had never killed anyone or claimed to be a "god" as Pharaoh did. Another Wahhabi who resigned is a well known buddy of a defeated ANPP gubernatorial aspirant and he was reported to have publicly declared him as their candidate for the 2007 elections. The Dr. Kwankwaso faction of the PDP has also made overtures to them through him. The third Wahhabi who resigned is perhaps the most morally questionable character. He is a buddy of a well known tycoon who is a proud friend of the American ruling family and whenever he visits that buddy in another northern city he is well received with all the glamour and fanfare. Whereas in Kano he is not considered an important figure to be appointed a chairman of any organization hence he feels the pain of being a nonentity. Meanwhile their patrons and sympathizers who have connections in the elite circle continue to promote them especially this last fellow. The aid of a Saudi charity came in handy and they built a Mosque for him where he leads the Juma'ah Prayer.

It should be noted that it was not the first time that this Friday Imam has stirred controversy in Kano. Because of his dislocated background he has always loved to attract public attention therefore one of his earliest controversies was his attack on Shaykh Nasiru Kabara the famous Western African scholar. Being a Wahhabi and in their typical arrogant fashion he was reported to have said that the Shaykh was in hell fire. Kano boiled and he was summoned to the Palace of the Emir at first he attempted to refuse but the powerful Galadima of Kano sent him a warning and he was afraid of the iron fist of Dr. Kwankwaso who would have crushed him at that time. In fact he even withdrew his statement against Dr. Kwankwaso. And when he went to the Palace he bowed down like any other talaka (commoner). He also pledged to remain a loyal subject of the revered Emir. Recently he also used his mimbar pulpit to attack a Kano prince who used his pen to prove to the world that the Imam is after all not even knowledgeable but only an ordinary demagogue. As if that was not enough he used the same mimbar to attack another scholar he considered as his rival. Then came, his resignation after which he made another khutba attacking a state commissioner who is popularly known as izala because of his inclination towards that organization. The following week he mellowed his khutbah against that commissioner.

There is no doubt the Ulama like all religious leaders should not be apolitical but they should be non-partisan. They should as much as possible be objective. They are, partisan if they engage in mudslinging. For example there is no way an Imam would claim that eight out of the ten stakeholders have falling out with Shekarau because he does not listen to advice. Who are the ten stakeholders? He never stated them but he claims that Shekarau has falling out with the Ulama and the party elders probably these are the two out of the ten stakeholders. This statement clearly demonstrates the Imam's ignorance of modern political process. Shekarau has not falling out with the Ulama as a class or group but with a sub-section of the Ulama. Out of over sixty full and part time members of various Shari'ah bodies and organizations only three have resigned so how can any sane person claim that the Ulama are against Shekarau. The Trust group has made one front page headline on that Imam resignation with another news report a few days later and then a whole cover story in the Weekly Trust downplaying the Supreme Court verdict against Buhari. Why all these effort to bring down Shekarau because three Ulama have resigned from his Shari'ah organization to even warrant downplaying of a Supreme Court verdict against Buhari? It clearly shows that some people have an interest in the issue hence they blow it up to achieve some aims the newspaper and the journalists use it for material gains making Kano a "milk pot". The same Trust group had earlier carried a front page story on the Kano political crisis in Daily Trust with caption Buhari shuns Kano in which frivolous reasons were given and the next day they carried another front page in which they tried to revert their earlier story. Buhari was reported in the Daily Independent of June 4, 2005 as saying "I believe by the headline they must have sold a lot more copies than they normally sell". This is an affirmation that Kano is the "milk pot" to be exploited by Muslim journalists for material gains. In this case the Trust group is not different from the Southern media that is so much vilified by the Northerners who have so far been incapable of establishing more media houses.

It could hardly be a coincidence that the three Ulama's resignation came after vituperations by a female member of the Kano ANPP. This woman poured venom on Mallam in a widely publicized interview in Radio Freedom another media house determined to bring him down. The station is owned by a family that has had more than a fair share of the national cake and they want to be in every government and they wanted one of their own members to be a commissioner in Kano and another to be a governor in Jigawa. They were driven out of Jigawa State and they found a liberal haven in Kano which they now want to destroy. The ANPP woman stated in the interview that Shekarau is deceiving the public he cannot implement the Shari'ah because he does not have the police. The interview exposed the hypocrisy of the ANPP woman because she knew that state governments have no police why then did she support Mallam Shekarau's Shari'ah platform? One of her cronies in a Weekly Trust paid advertorial boasted that it was her vituperations that made the Ulama to resign. But as people who survive on lying he fabricated that there was "mass resignation of the members of the Hisbah and Sharia Commission soon after the radio interview". To these deceitful politicians resignation of three out of the over sixty members of the three bodies is a "mass resignation". The three Ulama are unaware that they have perfectly been used by the journalists to make news and the politicians to settle scores.

This brings us to the political process. The scenario provided by the three Ulama fits into the project of politically resolving the Shari'ah project. A crony of Dr. Kwankwaso was reported in a Weekly Trust interview as saying that they have told the public that Shari'ah is never possible and therefore now they are vindicated. The three Ulama who resigned on the other hand believe that they can get another candidate to win on the Shari'ah ticket. During the crisis a former top official of the Dr. Kwankwaso administration phoned one of them and the naïve Wahhabi was so elated. These Wahhabis are unaware that the tables would be turned against them. Whenever they come out and preach on the Shari'ah ticket the decadent politicians would say it is not possible as exemplified by the recent actions of the morally bankrupt ANPP woman and the Dr. Kwankwaso's crony.

The morally bankrupt ANPP woman made efforts to discredit the Kano State Government in collaboration with Dr. Kwankwaso using some southern newspapers who could easily propagate falsehood and the Wahhabi Ulama as their subjects. For example in the front page of the Daily Independent of June 20 2005 a story titled Crisis rocks Shari'ah implementation in Kano' was planted. It was riddled with falsehood such as the claim that Imam who resigned is the "Chairman of the commission". In a further attempt to spread falsehood the reporter added "Besides in an attempt to achieve its goal, the government got involved in another round of controversy when it amended certain sections of the penal code, a federal law as it affects the North and which deals with alcohol and other intoxicants". This was a deliberate attempt to mislead the readers most of whom are Southerners because the Penal Code is not a Federal Law and all the states are empowered by the Constitution to make laws on criminal matters.

The Wahhabi Ulama were not satisfied with their actions in Kano and they also raced to General Buhari as the other decadent politicians in the ANPP earlier did. The General's court became an arena of contradictions. The first contradiction is that the decadent politicians went to the General to convince him that he should not allow himself to be associated with the Shari'ah project of Kano which Shekarau was about to launch. This is because he would loose the support of the non-Shari'ah compliant supporters more especially outside Nigeria since Wole Soyinka the Noble Laureate made a widely publicized attack on Shekarau in the Western media. The ANPP woman's crony in his usual lies even claimed in the Weekly Trust advertorial that Shekarau was attempting to smuggle Obasanjo's NEEDS as a Shari'ah project. This liar was not even ashamed to lie to General Buhari whom they regard as their political mentor, he wrote that "Buhari did not attend the event because of the way…interview charged the polity coupled with his own realization that he was invited to in order to commission General Obasanjo's NEEDS programme which Ibrahim Shekarau wanted to sneak in as a sharia programme". General Buhari was interviewed by newspapermen and he never stated these as the reasons for not attending the event. As for the ignorant assertion that Obasanjo's NEEDS program was being sneaked as a Shari'ah program, General Buhari and all educated Nigerians are aware that you cannot sneak such program because it is a national project. States on the other hand are required to incorporate all their projects within the SEEDS program which are all monitored by the donor agencies. It may interest readers to know that Kano is one of the few states, which is far ahead in governance reform programs. It is the only state that is transparent enough to have its SEEDS program well elaborated in its website. Perhaps the ignorant crony of the morally bankrupt politician is referring to NAPEP and even in this case there is no way the state government can sneak it because there is a federal coordinator of the project in Kano who is a Dr. Kwankwaso crony.

The second contradiction at the General's court was the visit by the Ulama who resigned to convince him that Shekarau is not implementing the Shari'ah. These were all orchestrated to destroy Shekarau and pave the way for another candidate. One of the ways is to do whatever is possible to bring a rift between Shekarau and Buhari from all fronts. This is one of the reasons why the Imam who resigned even said Shekarau does not listen to the party elders. What has an Imam got do with party elders who are against the Shari'ah despite his claim that he is resigning because of non-implementation of Shari'ah? The three naïve Ulama and those using them should know that people are wise and I sincerely hope that Shekarau and Buhari would not allow what happened between Mallam Aminu Kano and Rimi to happen to them. They shall be the big losers. Already Dr. Kwankwaso has gone into alliance with the morally bankrupt ANPP woman and he has promised to back her Senatorial bid and he hopes to re-run for Kano State Governorship. He believes that Kano people are so forgetful and gullible therefore he is ready to take the ride with his campaign of falsehood. He ran administration that spent more on three buildings, Kano Government House (N560 million) Kano Governor's Lodge Abuja (N719 million) and KSIP building (N790 million) than on its entire capital vote on health and agriculture combined for his four years as governor of Kano. This is based on facts available in his official book Landmarks in Kano State. Yet his cronies claimed that he was a performer and the best thing that happened to Kano and he shall return. What a country? The three Ulama are now helping his bid and in the political resolution of the Shari'ah project.