Sheikh Ja

Sheikh Ja’afar: Exploiting A Martyrdom?

Abdullahi Bala

Recently the notorious saharareporters.com posted a feigned article claiming that the governor of Kano State, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, is behind the gruesome murder of late Sheikh Ja’afar Mahmoud Adam. This was then trailed by series of sermons in some jumu’at mosques subtly believing the article and pointing accusing fingers towards the governor. But for the need to save the unsuspecting observer from being taken for a ride by the heartless opportunists, one does not have to waste precious time on this bunkum.

This piece, however, is not an attempt to critique the controversial article carried by the saharareporters.com accusing M. Ibrahim Shekarau of masterminding the murder of late Sheikh Ja’afar Mahmoud Adam. Nor is it an attempt to expose the lies and fabrications some supposedly unbiased reporters used to comment on the issue. Rather it is an attempt to unveil some clandestineness which might help anybody who is following the issue into understanding the whole thing or at least view it from a vantage point.

The unfortunate and condemnable murder of the great sheikh is, unfortunately, being exploited by a selfish and heartless interest group to settle a score and/or pursue a political ambition.

Mal. Shekarau’s problem with this group started since he declared his intention to contest the gubernatorial seat in Kano State. The first pointer to this was when he was vying for his party to nominate him to contest the gubernatorial seat, which is the primary election. At that time, the State party Chairman, Alhaji Ali Amin, popularly known as little, was also interested in winning the ticket and was making his connections. One can recall that the agitation for Shari’a was at its climax at that time and both Shekarau and Little were regarded as pro Shari’a candidates, the former was widely believed to be more serious in supporting Shari’a than the latter who was relatively obscure.

Shekarau was considered by many as a Shari’a hero by that time. He willfully sacrificed the lucrative permanent secretary seat for Shari’a. He was an active pro Shari’a; seen everywhere supporting Shari’a. Ali Amin (little), on the other hand, was not known among majority of Shari’a protagonist, but was widely regarded as a good fellow who might work for Shari’a if elected. Consequently a fierce rivalry started to surface.

Meanwhile, a caucus of pro Shari’a ulama/activist felt that if left unchecked the situation might turn into a disaster; hence they arranged a reconciliation meeting between the two candidates, ostensibly to map out the best way to approach the situation. It was at this meeting that some members who are of a particular sect uncompromisingly requested Shekarau to step down for Ali Amin. Their action did not surprise their colleagues in the meeting for obvious reasons. He was their benefactor. But Shekarau did not step down as we all know. The rest, as they say, is now history.

When Malam was elected as a Governor and he made appointments, this same pro little group started complaining that the appointments did not favor them. Some of them rejected their appointments on the grounds that they deserve bigger office, while some resigned later. Thus a dichotomy started to manifest. Some of these people stated using their schools (majlisi) to attack the government to the surprise of many who thought they are supposed to back the unprecedented Shari’a implementation which the Shekarau administration is doing. Unknown to many, some of these people were active members of Kwankwaso led government. In fact the leader of this group served as a member of a notorious committee which carried out the mass sacking of civil servants by the Kwankwaso administration. It is also not a secret that he used to take advantage of wa’azin maguzawa to campaign for little during last elections, before kwankwaso rammed Ahmed Garba Bichi down their throats. These people’s clever attempt to cover their alliance with PDP was betrayed by their actions.

Then the great tragedy, unexpectedly, happened; Sheikh Ja’afar was assassinated. Confused fingers were pointing at different directions, albeit doubtfully. That gave the exploiters a rare chance and they joyfully grab it. They pointed Shekarau as the one who did it, brushing aside mountains of contradictions to their claim. Many of us who were there witnessed how Malam Shekarau was unashamedly accused of complicity in the murder when he went to the late Sheikh’s mosque to witness the burial in the morning of the assasination. But for the timely intervention of neutral and respected sheikhs at that time, only Allah knows what will happen. Even the martyrdom of the Sheikh did not soften their impiousness.

This interest group which consist (and is so far restricted to) some members of a particular sect, remotely controlled by some politicians, kept insisting that Shekarau is involved in killing the Sheikh. They posited that the snail speed or rather standstill of the investigation by the police is a pointer to their claim.

They forgot or chose to ignore the fact the Nigerian Army, Police force, SSS, NIA, CID, CIB, DMI and all the paramilitary are under the Federal Government of Nigeria NOT Kano state Government. If the case is being delayed the right person to accuse is the Federal Government who the Nigerian Police is answerable to, not the Governor. But, alas, they are not after the murderers, they are only after the Governor, so he must be accused. Even the claim by the Kano Police Command that the bullets used to assassinate the Sheikh were the ones stolen by armed robbers who killed some policemen and carted away some guns and bullets, was simply ignored by this group. The armed robbers were later linked to the Nigerian Taliban who were known to have sour relationship with the Sheikh over their ideological differences.

Now that the campaign drums for 2011 have started, mischief and impishness are in the making in Kano, reminiscent or worst than that of 2007 political excitability. Saharareporters.com and a junk Newspaper pop up with this laughable article accusing Malam Ibrahim Shekarau of masterminding the murder. To any sane and healthy mind, an unprejudiced perusal of the write up is all what one needed to put it where it belongs; dustbin. The reason they propped up is that Shekarau was afraid that the Sheikh will destroy his ambition of being re elected into office. This is simply unreasonable. It is no secret that, hours before his assassination, the late Sheikh openly called upon all his followers to vote a candidate with certain qualities, which many believed he was referring to Shekarau. Any doubting Thomas can look for the cassette which is still circulating in and outside the State. Contrary to what these bunch of mischief makers are saying, many believed that the Sheikh was killed by PDP for daring to side with Shekarau, as they killed their own Bola Ige, Chief Marshall harry and so on.

It is unfortunate that some people are trying to hoodwink and derail us from pursuing the late Sheikh’s blood from the right quarters for their selfish ambitions.

May Allah expose those behind the killing and those trying to hoodwink us.