By Chimezie Godfrey
The Emir of Zazzau, Alhaji Ahmed Nuhu Bamali has said that the future of Nigeria is dependent on the collective ability of citizens at reformation.
He made the assertion on Tuesday in Abuja, during the presentation by the Premium Times of a book titled,” The Sokoto Caliphate,” authored by Prof. Murray Last.
Alhaji Bamali noted that going by the topic of the day, the book is one of the vital and invaluable works written on the history of the Sokoto Caliphate, adding that It is the first written on the subject matter by a scholar whose sources are mainly written in Arabic manuscripts.
He therefore opined that, It can thus be said to represent an essential milestone in the inquiry into the history of the 19th century on how to learn particularly about the Jihad of Shehu Usman Danfodio, and the establishment of the Sokoto Caliphate.
The Emir stressed that the book is distinguished by Dr. Murray Last’s heavy reliance on written Arabic sources and the fact that in the words of Hopkins, it supercedes all that was written on the subject, adding that it corrects innumerable areas and misinterpretations of previous writers.
He said that contrary to the writing of some Western scholars, the history of Sub Saharan Africa, in the pre-colonial period was not only of accounts of conflicts and wars, which had virtually nothing to contribute to the modern day.The Sokoto Caliphate is reputed for the bequest of an enduring legacy of the use of dialogue and application of intellectual debate in resolving intra and interstate conflicts.
Alhaji Bamali therefore adviced Nigerians to draw important lessons from the enduring legacy of the Sokoto Caliphate and make efforts towards reformation, adding that the future of the country is dependent on the collective ability of all stakeholders at reformation.
He said,”This is a praiseworthy and historical precedent, deserving commendation and emulation by the civilized countries of today. This African Islamic diplomatic history is typified in the discourse of the triangulate of these founding Islamic scholars of the Sokoto Caliphate, Shehu Danfodio, his brother Abdullahi and his son Muhammad Bello.
“The differences and advice on policies demonstrate not only a lively intellectual discourse0, and debate, but also dynamism and responsiveness of the Sokoto leadership to the challenges of the governance of governing. A new multicultural state. The difference of opinion between a blind and Bello for example, on the ransoming of war prisoners held by (Sokoto) force is an example of the role of intellectual dialogue in the formulation of government policies.
He said the possibility of African states to resolve the interstate differences through dialogue or recourse to intellectual discourse is exemplified by the dialogue that took place between the Sokoto and other caliphates.
“The following are the salient lessons learned from the history of the Sokoto Caliphate. Commitment to education is the key to reforming the society in an intra-state conflict can and should be resolved through continuous dialogue.
“By and large, we are supposed to learn from history in order to, through past events, understand and provide solutions to problems and challenges of the present.
“We must accept that the future of this country is dependent on our collective ability at reformation. Reformation, on the other hand, cannot be realized without mass education.
“We must therefore make concerted effort at educating the Nigerian population as no meaningful development can take place in an atmosphere provided by ignorance and inequity.”
The traditional ruler said that a critical reading of the book reveals quite a number of critical points, which are very crucial to the discourse on the relevance of history of the caliphate to present day Nigeria.
He explained that this is because the jihad was essentially the jihad of Shehu Usman Dan Fodio from the time this book was written to date, it has become common place among scholars and uninformed to refer to the jihad as Fulani jihad or Fulani war.
“This has numerous consequences among which is that it gave the jihad an ethnic coloration diverted from the educational reformatory objective of Shehu Usman Danfodio. It has also served to create Fulani phobia which is further accentuated by the prevailing security challenges currently experienced in the country.
“Thus, one hears of terms such as fulanization agenda, and it is not difficult to understand that the foundation of this phobia was partly led by the misnomer of calling the head of Shehu Usman the Fulani jihad…This book supports the argument that the jihad was essentially an intellectual movement.
“The book reveals that Shehu Usman Danfodio preoccupied himself with teaching and preaching, moving from one place to another.
“He spent many years traveling, teaching preaching, converting and writing along with his expanding team of disciples, including my great grandfather, while most of them will leave the flagbearer of Zazzau Emirate.
“The Sheik, we were told taught tirelessly admonishing against oppression, extortion, from the poor, robbing of markets, or mosque, among other vices. This therefore helped tremendously to get educated people who afterwards held in the running of the administration of the caliphate, part of the intellectual legacy left by the jihadist was the development of historiography. The Jihad leaders wrote extensively on variety of subjects, including history,” he said.
The Special Guess of Honour, Minister of Youth and Sport, Sunday Dare thanked Premium Times and Premium Books for developing a book culture in the country.
He also thanked the author, Prof. Murray Last for the ground breaking efforts, adding that the book will stand the test of time.
“Premium Times is blazing a trail by developing a book culture in Nigeria, education without book is useless.
“We must thank Prof Murray for this ground breaking efforts this book will stand the test of time. Our nation needs lessons from the Sokoto Caliphate to chat itself out of the current challenges,” the Minister said.
The author of the Book, Prof Murray Last remarked that the ancient Borno Caliphate yielded to a new Caliphate which is the Sokoto Caliphate, as he urged Nigerian scholars to study the success of the Jihad, among other events.
“I will urge the young Nigerian scholars to discover the success of the Jihad, of what happened and how it happened. The more you study the organization of the Caliphate, the more remarkable it becomes.
“We are hoping that the Premium Times promoting this book will stimulate a lot of interest,” he said.
The book was reviewed by Malam Mahmud Jega,editor in chief 21st Century Chronicle.He slammed the media narrative especially beginning from the 1990s which gave a negative image of the Caliphate.
