DOES SARDAUNAN GUMEL DESERVE DETHRONMENT? 

By Musa Ilallah

The news of the dethronement of the Sardaunan Gumel, Senator Muhammad D. Alkali early last week by the Gumel Emirate Council in Jigawa state certainly came to Sardauna’s teeming supporters and other on lookers within and outside the state as a big surprise. A big surprise because this is the first time that a traditional title holder in this part of the country will be stripped off his title because of his involvement in partisan politics.  

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Even though the Gumel emirate council did not advance any reasons for the action, speculations point to the declaration of the Senator to contest the governorship of the state come 2011 under the ticket of his party- PDP. This is to say that he will go to the party’s primary election alongside the present Governor of the state, Sule Lamido. The conclusion one can confidently draw from the emirate council’s action is that Sule Lamido has a hand in it.

For the avoidance of doubt, Senator Alkali was turbaned Sardaunan Gumel in 1994 by the present Emir of Gumel, Alhaji Ahmad Muhammad Sani largely because of his significant and visible contributions to the physical and manpower development of the emirate and her people. So one wonders how the Emir of Gumel and indeed his council will allow themselves to be dragged into politics by a selfish and greedy Sule Lamido. Sardaunan Gumel as a politician of repute campaigned, contested and won the Senatorial election under the ticket of the PDP in 1999. The present Emir of Gumel was on the throne when Alkali was elected as a Senator and also a holder of a prestigious title in his domain, but did not for once question the Senator’s moral ground to contest elections as a title holder.

However rumours going round the state indicate that a letter was sent to the Emir to either sack the Sardaunan Gumel from his title or face the consequences of dethronement as Emir.

Even Senator Alkali himself had admitted that he was neither queried no warned for any offence against the Emirate before the sack notice came to him.

I advise the Emir not to allow himself to used by do or die politicians who will do everything on earth to remain in power. He should desist from politicising the traditional institution that has remained neutral overtime.

This latest action of the Emirate goes to show that the Emir is just being used to achieve some political ends- to frustrate Senator Alkali in his bid to contest the state governorship come 2011.

The popularity of Sardaunan Gumel, who is today Jigawa state’s Commissioner at the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission in Abuja, is not in doubt. Even before he was elected Senator of the federal republic in 1999, Sarduanan Gumel has distinguished himself as one Nigerian who is detribalized, de-sectionalized and accessible to all and sundry. He is also known throughout the state and beyond as one who does not discriminate for any reason, humble, patriotic and philanthropic. Since his sojourn at the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission, Senator Alkali had discharged his duties as the commission’s chair of its fiscal efficiency and budget committee and Vice Chair of its remuneration and monetization committee. He had adequately defended the interest of Jigawa state over the years at the Commission. No one had cause to complain about his representation.

The good news coming from Sardaunan Gumel, Senator Muhammad D. Alkali is that he has assured his numerous supporters in and out of the state that the action will not in any way cow or deter him from pursuing a legitimate and morally sound aspiration to move the state out of the doldrums which the former and present Governors Saminu Turaki and Sule Lamido have so far plunged it into. Said he: “The action to take away my title was purely political. No amount of intimidation or harassment will make me rescind my nintension to contest the governorship come 2011”.

Certainly, Senator Alkali needs the support and the cooperation of all and sundry in the state to push the state forward.

 

Musa Ilallah

( musahk123@yahoo.com )

An indigene of Jigawa State and a Public Affairs Analyst