Culture is woven around ‘a people’ and not being a trivial issue, it cannot be taken away from them. People would always like to be identified with their stock. Even in the animal kingdom, they are identified by their spices. A goat will always remain a goat, but they are in Yoruba known as Ewure, Ikegbe or Ogufe. That is why we humans, as the upper creation of living things, are identified by our tribe in Nigeria next, our state before being called Nigerians, which is a pity indeed. Other nations often identified themselves the other way round. Names are meaningful, often too, to describing the person’s character, the circumstances of his or her birth and family lineage. In many cases, the name given to a child reflects the character of a respected ancestor in the family. Even names of some towns, reflects paramouncy within a clan. Hence, Ijebu-Ode, Ode-Ondo, Oyo-Ile, Ode-Idanre, and Ode-Itsekiri, among others.
The significance of names at the passage of the Emir of Kano Sarki Ado Abdullahi Bayero lately, came into limelight. The Bible tells us in Genesis 2 verse 18 to 19 that God at creation created all living things and ordered Adam to give each being a name. “And whatsoever name Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof” (KIV). This I believe was the beginning of why humans too identified themselves through specific names for proper identification. For instance, my clan in Idanreland of Ondo State is known as AIGBE. The name significantly is not the same as that of a close friend of mine Mr. Joseph Akhigbe who is from Edo State. But the significance is that their pronunciation is the same and that is why people felt we originally must have migrated from somewhere in Edo State, to Ode-Idanre in Ondo State many years back.
Michael Cole, Editor of Living Light Daily reading guide wrote: “What’s in a name? From Shakespeare, we got an answer thus – nothing! A rose by another name will still smell sweet. Some English names unfortunately are given by unthinking parents. Such names like, John Wood, Annette Curtain, Justin Case, Stan Still. However, no one will give his daughter the name ‘Jezebel’, a synonym for wickedness and debauchery (1st Kings 16:22, 2nd Kings: 9).” That’s why the Yoruba are very conscious of what name to give their children.
This bothered me much lately when the news of the passage of Bayero was announced and the subsequent events that followed. What brought that about was the fact that Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi himself was “fooled” through name – naming! The Vanguard reported that he first wrote on his Twitter the news of the selection of Alhaji Lamido Sanusi Ado Bayero as the new Emir of Kano whereas, a few minutes later, it was clear that the person selected by the Government through the advice of the kingmakers was Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi himself. The confusion came in that Lamido Sanusi, and Sanusi Lamido reflected in both names.
In all chieftaincy rules that I know, in all the kingdoms of the Old Western Nigeria, the government has the last say in the selection of an Oba. A name could be the first on the list, it may not emerge in the end as “the chosen”. Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso had noted that, “The laws and rules of selecting an Emir don’t require the people to cast their votes. It is the kingmakers that can advise the governor and as Allah wishes, selects the one chosen by Allah as the Emir of Kano”. In the Bible, we read of how David was anointed. The boy was tending the family cattle in the field when Jesse made seven of his sons, to go through the interview of Joseph, but none made it.
Samuel was asked if those seven were the only children of Jesse to which he said, “There remaineth yet the youngest and, behold, he keepth the sheep” (1st Samuel 16:11). And like Kwankwaso did at the inauguration of the new Emir, Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brethren. All the eight sons of Jesse were Princes by today’s standard but David was “Inter Pares”, the chosen. Emir Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, Muhammadu Sanusi II, once rightly said in an interview long before he ascended the throne that, every prince’s ambition is to be an Emir. I do not accept that assertion. But it will be right to say all princes have a right to the throne.
Justice Adeyinka Morgan in the prelude to the report on the Chieftaincy Commission of Ondo State in 1978 noted that the problem to the throne has to do with succession and the processes involved. Everywhere in Africa where there is a kingdom, this is a peculiar problem among all the qualified Princes as noted by Emir Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, Muhammadu Sanusi II, The situation in Benin, is a peculiar one just like the Ibadan ideal which came into effect in 1936, when Otun and Jagun lines became a pacesetter for all kingdoms in that area of Yorubaland. Only about a month ago, The Kingdom, in far away Saudi Arabia, came into contemporary history of a new hierarchal order of succession to the throne. It was to check this issue of wrangling among the Princes. That of course, has yet to be tested. They have to wait “until they get to the bridge, before they can cross it”. The quasi-republican system in Ibadan, to me, seems fantastic for emulation.
I want to end this piece with an allusion to the problem of names in the northern part of Nigeria. The first problem that came to light in this Kano incident was the similarity in the names as two of the Princes each had LAMIDO SANUSI as an adjunct to their names. A journalist not careful is likely to make the mistake of misplacing one for the other which was the initial mistake of the first twitters. Anyone familiar with the naming system in the north will understand that many names are quite similar. Most people bear names after their towns and villages. It is not strange to hear of Mallam Katsina Ibrahim and then another Ibrahim Katsina Ibrahim from the northern part of Nigeria. That again brings us back to what I call the culture of the people. This situation is not in the least common in the south except of course when people want to be named after their fathers like Mr. John Akinyemi (Jr) The prefex (JR) being the only difference in the name of the original Mr. Akinyemi. Others adopt the Roman figure I or II or III too. Even then, they do not come up as often as of the names from the north.
The Kano incident is a great lesson for journalists. It shows they have to cross check their facts before broadcast or publication. They must have the mind of a carpenter, who measures his wood four times before putting the saw into action.
I wish the new Emir of Kano, Sarki Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, Muhammadu Sanusi II, a peaceful reign in the ancient kingdom as Kano.