Posted by By Ahmed Mansur on
Some were even given computer training to assist them in their Qur'anic and Arabic studies which they could use to develop their skills in several areas including calligraphy or zayana (in Hausa) a very popular art.
Some were even given computer training to assist them in their Qur'anic and Arabic studies which they could use to develop their skills in several areas including calligraphy or zayana (in Hausa) a very popular art. The government also intervened with poverty alleviating measures such as providing ox-driven ploughs and fertilizer for farmers as well as sewing machines for tailors. In the first year, over N90 million was spent on these programmes. On the other hand, Governor Ahmed Sani Yerima is very prominent in empowering the prominent Ulama from various parts of Nigeria. Many of them troop to Zamfara because of his generosity. It should also be noted that his state has one of the highest number of child beggars many of whom find their way to Kano where they study with various mallams. One of the major grievances of the Wahhabi Ulama against Governor Ibrahim Shekarau is that he is not as generous as Governor Yerima. Many of the outspoken big time Wahhabi Ulama have benefited from the Zamfara governor. This is one of the reasons why some of these Ulama are now against Shekarau.
The other reason why some of the Wahhabi Ulama are against Shekarau is their exclusive tendency. They had wanted to appropriate him and get the plumb Shari'ah jobs that attract prestige but Kano, being a big city with several Ulama, a small fish that could be a big fish elsewhere is nothing in Kano. The disgruntled Wahhabis have only two Juma'at Mosques out of the over 20 in Kano City, when two of their imams and their leader resigned from the Hisbah Board and Shari'ah Commission, they made headlines. The BBC Hausa Service kept the story alive because their correspondent is a Wahhabi, a fact unknown to his bosses in London. There was absolutely no logic in over-blowing the resignation of three members out of over 30 members except for the sake of the mischief that was intended. It should also be noted that the BBC Hausa Service and Radio Freedom in Kano, have no sense of public responsibility whatsoever.
They don't have the progress of Kano or Northern Nigeria in their philosophy; all they are after is propaganda in the case of BBC and money in the case of Radio Freedom. The Wahhabi Ulama accused Mallam Shekarau of lukewarm attitude towards Shari'ah because he has not been implementing the hadd as they wanted it. They want him to be militant as the Wahhabis of Saudi Arabia. Beer parlors and hotels should be attacked and alcohol destroyed. Thereafter, the government should pay the proprietors as they did in the previous regime. Mallam Shekarau on the other hand, believes that cordial working relationship should be established with the Police to properly implement the ban on alcohol.
The state government demolished the sports club and stopped the illegal dramas at one of the theatres owned by the government which was active during the previous regime. This has been confirmed by an anti-government writer who was defending Radio Freedom in an essay in the Weekly Trust. These actions of the Shekarau administration are not satisfactory as far as the Wahhabis are concerned because they want to push the state to the wall and bring about religious turbulence so that a state of emergency would be declared in Kano.
As noted earlier, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau has always emphasized that human development within the framework of the shari'ah is the focus of his administration. No other state in Nigeria has pursued employment generation policies as his administration but this is not a source of commendation from the Wahhabis. Even in implementing the shari'ah, employment generation was considered because the singular fact of engaging over 8,000 people by providing paid jobs in the Hisbah Board is enough for any sensible Mallam to give the government a break. But as usual with the Wahhabi, they gave no consideration that the formation of an organization from the scratch is a meticulous process that requires professionalism and the proper bureaucratic procedure. To the Wahhabis, shari'ah is only complete when there is implementation of the hadd with quasi-sadistic alacrity in a mob fashion to attract the populism of the mostly illiterate population. They have no time for learning and training of Hisbah or even the welfare packages provided by the Zakat and Hubusi Board. There was no complete Shari'ah implementation in more than a century since the British started its piece meal destruction, but the Wahhabis want it restored in two years by Mallam Shekarau. Many of them are totally ill-informed about the process of modern governance.
They have never been in engaged in any public responsibility except that they took to the loudspeaker after completing their university education in Saudi Arabia. Now they want to steer a whole society without any experience and they are promoted by the media which is interested in de-harmonizing the society. It is only people with such a mind-set that would ever attempt to bring down a government that has provided more jobs to the jobless than any other government. The leader of these Wahhabis was reported as raising the hand of a politician as their gubernatorial candidate in 2007 because they believe the people of Kano are there for a ride.
Governor Yerima has a good fraternal relationship with the Wahhabis of Kano largely because of his reaching out to all Ulama and Muslim activists with the intention of putting them in a bag for a Presidential bargain in 2007. Governor Yerima needs another political adventure since the Zamfara era has come to a close. Governor Shekarau on the other hand, believes that shari'ah implementation needs institutions and the cultivating of the people to carry on the total restoration process. This is very crucial to him because he has been associated with Islamic activities for more than three decades at every point of his life not just at foray of partisan politics. The two models and experiences are lessons for the Muslims of Northern Nigeria for improvement.
Concluded.
Mr. Mansur writes from Kano.