By Ussuji Madener
There are times when silence, as they say, is not golden.
This is one of those times in this unfolding political matter.
It has become very important that we respond immediately to the sudden emerged and rightly condemnable letter to the Supreme Court of Nigeria that purportedly emanated from the renowned Islamic scholar and elder statesman, the supreme leader of the Islamic Sufi group known as the Tijaniyyah in Nigeria, Sheikh Dahiru Usman Bauchi.
The purported letter unequivocally posits an attempt to engage a certain influential position to influence the outcome of the Supreme Court judgment on the Kano state governorship election litigation.
Hence, it is an aberration, a complete diversion from what is legally acceptable by our national system and one that must be roundly rejected and condemned by all well-meaning citizens.
However, it is equally important that we also address the authenticity of the source, the said letter claims.
Is it possible the elderly citizen renowned cleric suddenly chose a departure from his signature response pattern to national issues to the point of tossing caution to the air, to the end of writing such a letter?
With all due respect, even the acclaimed letter writer on national matters, former President Olusegun Obasanjo had not and would most definitely not write such a letter.
The Sheikh Dahiru that I know by virtue of my interest and decision to understudy him over the years, would unlikely not be responsible for such an aberration of a letter; and after making contact with close confidants of the Islamic Scholar, I have concluded that the letter in question was another expression of the Nigerian politicians’ readiness to do anything to any length to get what they want.
The letter did not originate from the Sheikh, nor did he approve of anyone to write such on his behalf. And this would not be the first time some politicians would attempt to impersonate the personality of the renowned Sheikh; for instance, in the build up to the 2023 presidential election, the sudden news of the Sheikh’s endorsement of the candidate of PDP, Atiku Abubakar broke out.
The story read: “Oh you people of Nigeria, the election beckons us again, and my followers who are into politics have told me that they will be voting for Atiku.”
While the news of the endorsement was eventually determined to be fake, the objective of the perpetrators was clear: to deceive the cleric’s many followers into lining up behind their candidate.
The objective of the perpetrators of the current impersonation isn’t so far from the first; setting up the cleric’s followers to take up the message and to scare the judiciary on one hand, and on the other hand, to directly force the hands of a couple of the Supreme Court justices, who might have huge respect for the Islamic scholar, to do their bidding.
Sheikh Dahiru is not a stranger to responding to issues of national consequence, and even international issues that directly affect our interest as a nation. In the wake of the Naira and fuel scarcity that almost crippled the country before the general elections of 2023, the Cleric wasn’t silent as he joined the list of statesmen that voiced out their concerns about the effect on Nigerians and urged the government to end the lingering nationwide scarcity of both the new naira notes and petrol products.
Not too long ago, the Sheikh did not hesitate to lend his voice to the unfortunate massacre of some innocent citizens by the Nigeria Army at Tudun Biri, Kaduna state.
He directly urged the President to ensure prosecution of those responsible for the bombing of villagers during Maulud celebration in Tudun Biri, Kaduna State.
In all these interventions and many others, the elderly revered Sheikh has lent his voice in recent times, since he has become rarely old, a nonagenarian, he has consistently engaged either of two mediums: the dissemination of his recorded voice or video.
At no time in the last many years has he used any other medium other than these two to send out his contributions to issues.
It is therefore impossible that he would suddenly depart from these consistent signatory positions to desecrate the independence of the national judiciary.
What we have therefore witnessed is another expression of the desperation of some politicians on all divides across the country and the level of willingness they possess to turn everything upside down to win an election. In this regard, no party is spared; none is innocent, and it is about time we put up all efforts to strengthen our system against fake and false information, propaganda and impersonation, including the one we just witnessed and debunked.
