BY: YUSHA’U HAMZA, KANO
yushausaleh88@gmail.com
Traditional institutions in northern Nigeria have served as the moral, spiritual, and administrative backbone of the region, this is for a very long time. Yet, over the past several decades, a systematic dismantling of these institutions has began, orchestrated under the guise of democratic evolution and political progress.
Leading this erosion, is a troubling alliance between local, regional and central politicians in company of their colonial-era ideological mentors.
The fall of traditional institutions in the North is not a coincidence, nor is it the byproduct of mere modern governance reforms. It is part of a long-term, deliberate plan steeped in a Western-imported ideology of liberal democracy, that seeks to subvert indigenous leadership structures, disempower communities and centralize authority under political elites whose loyalty is neither to the people nor to their heritage.
The historical Gwandu Emirate crisis was one early case of this erosion. What was once a symbol of authority, diplomacy and cultural coherence became the subject of internal fracture, instigated by political interference.
The same can be said of the tragic demise of Sultan Ibrahim Dasuki and the contested circumstances surrounding the death of Sultan Muhammadu Maccido, both events shrouded in questions about political complicity and the role of state apparatus in reshaping succession processes.
Fast forward to the current decade, we witness the engineered balkanization of the Kano Emirate. Once a singular and powerful institution under the stewardship of an Emir, the Kano Emirate was split into smaller emirates in a controversial move widely interpreted as punishment for the emir’s outspokenness on political and economic governance. The incidence sent a clear message: traditional leaders who challenge the political status quo risk obliteration.
Today, it is the Zazzau Emirate (Zaria) that finds itself at the edge of political incursion.
Political maneuvering, opaque selection processes and visible partisanship in royal succession which threaten to destabilize one of the oldest and most respected emirates in the country, while tomorrow can be anywhere else in the northern Nigeria.
The genesis of this ideological attack dates back to colonialism. British colonial administrators introduced indirect rule not to preserve but to manipulate traditional systems for their benefit. They redefined emirates to serve colonial interests, establishing precedents for political interference in traditional matters. What we see today is a continuation of that legacy repackaged through modern politics.
Nigeria’s post-independence politicians, trained and influenced in the political schools of the West, have inherited this mindset. Rather than strengthening traditional systems as a complementary force to democratic governance, they view emirates as threats to central authority. Thus, through constitutional overreach, legislative tinkering and propaganda, they seek to render these institutions powerless.
Ironically, many within the traditional houses themselves have played key roles into this script. Some emirs, in their quest for favor with politicians, have compromised the sanctity of their offices. They bend rules, abandon neutrality and indulge in political maneuvering, effectively eroding the people’s trust. These “palace politicians” have replaced public service with opportunism, leaving the masses disillusioned and the institution alienated.
As traditional institutions are slowly being rendered ceremonial and subservient, it falls on the shoulders of the Northern Nigerian public to defend what remains. The struggle is not just about preserving palaces or titles, it is about protecting the cultural sovereignty, moral guidance and community identity.
Thus, this bad trajectories campaign if allowed to continue unchecked, will not only erase the authority of the emirates but also plunge the region into a vacuum of moral and cultural leadership.
A society without its traditional compass, risks becoming one adrift in imported ideologies that neither reflect its values nor address its realities.
This crisis is not merely political, but existential. What is currently happening across the region, is a silent cultural coup, carried out in boardrooms, legislatures and courtrooms, not by foreigners, but by those entrusted with the region’s future.
The people of northern region must awaken to the reality that their heritage is under siege. Only by reclaiming their history and rejecting the manipulation of both foreign and local elites, can they ensure the continuity of institutions that have defined their past and must shape their future.
Yusha’u Hamza writes from kafinchi in Garko Local government, Kano State.