In everything Sarki Sanusi commits to full-time, he reaches the peak. Banking—he became the CBN Governor. Monarchy—he became a first-class emir. Tijjaniya—he became a Khalifa.
This is an exceptional track record of excellence that luck alone cannot account for. It is effort and resilience crowned with success. And you don’t reach these heights if your primary concern is yourself. I am confident that, in my lifetime, I’ll see a Professor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi.
But he hasn’t done anything for the common man!
So they say.
But study the global financial crisis of 2008–2011 and how Nigeria withstood the shock. It was the Sanusi you love to hate. As CBN Governor, he was proactive. The effect would have been catastrophic without his interventions. His contribution doesn’t come in the form of populist grandstanding; it comes in the form of system strengthening—something that happens behind the scenes. But we appreciate populists around here more. Surprisingly, even the so-called intellectuals have become populist.
In 2010, when the Nigerian banking sector was heading toward a crisis, Intercontinental Bank alone, just before its acquisition by Access Bank, had a capital deficit of more than N500 billion—around half a trillion naira. To put this into perspective, Nigeria’s budget that year stood at about N4.2 trillion. This was just one of many banks facing similar or even bigger crises. If too many banks had failed simultaneously, it would have been disastrous—not just for the depositors but also for people like Miss Ladi, who sells akara on the street. Jobs would have been lost, production would have declined, and inflation would have skyrocketed. The same situation we are grappling with today could have started back then. Luckily, we had a savior in Sarki Sanusi.
In the age of populism, those who prevent catastrophes through systemic mechanisms are often the least celebrated. Populism glorifies the ‘hero’ who rolls up their sleeves to help victims—with the camera following them—of a disaster they could have prevented in the first place.
People like Sarki Sanusi do not thrive in the court of populism. Window dressing has never been his way, and populism thrives on deception.
Take this for example: The breakdown of the family system, particularly in Northern Nigeria, has significantly contributed to the region’s rising underdevelopment and insecurity. Addressing this requires systemic change. To this end, Sarki Sanusi, the 14th Emir of Kano (as he was then), set up a committee to revise our Family Law to reflect the changing world and instill a sense of responsibility that seems to be eroding.
Just recently, I had a conversation with one of the proponents of this reform, who is also an influential cleric and close associate of Sarki Sanusi. It was disheartening to learn that one of the clerics (name withheld) who had actively contributed to drafting the new law later became its staunch opponent. Worse, he dragged Sarki Sanusi’s name through the mud alongside his newfound opposition—the revised law.
Ironically, the same individual would praise people who assist men marrying a third wife without stable means of income or buy rams for others celebrating the birth of their 17th child—while the first ten children roam the streets. These people prioritize superficial solutions over addressing root causes. Such are the challenges Sarki Sanusi faces.
As I said, when you are not a populist, you risk being misunderstood oftentimes. But the beautiful thing is that posterity will judge us all. I hope Sarki Sanusi never bears the shame he worked so hard to resist—preventing unanticipated tragedies and championing a future many cannot yet envision.
Ahmad Muhammad Ahmad
19.1.2025
