allAfrica.com: Nigeria: Civil Societies and the Burden of Proof (Page 1 of 2)

Whether it is mischief or gross attention complex that propels Malam Shehu Sani's antics, one thing cannot be denied him - he seems to have an insatiable capacity for ruffling feathers in the Northern establishment.

He oscillates between being an infant terrible and a cause célèbre never shying away from controversy no matter how foolhardy. When a man makes a living by deliberately riding out storms, he deserves more scrutiny beyond the covert summations of the so-called leadership analysts of the CIA that specialise in manipulating the career progression or lack of it of outstanding Third World elite.

His tactics may be deplorable to many and his missions suspect, he nevertheless has an impeccable sense of timing. The superlative marital status of Muhammad Bello Abubakar Masaba is no longer news but the apparent ineptitude of the powers that be in the "power state" is. This lack of imagination has occasioned a crack for the lizards of the civil society to enter into the fray to subject purely religious sensibilities to wanton assault and secularist disdain in an attempt to justify the colossal funds they strenuously cadge and abundantly receive from donors that push camouflaged agenda. The prestige and seemingly antiquated authority of the Bida Emirate Council has in the process been severely battered for entering into a fight of attrition against the all-pervading information superhighway with one hand tied behind its back.

Mallam Mohammed Haruna, himself an outstanding son of Bida, alluded to the "underground support and even patronage" his kinsman Masaba enjoys from the royalty and even clergy in that historical emirate (Daily Trust, 17th September, 2008). If so, that simplifies matters and the Niger State Attorney-General might as well file a nolle prosequi and life continues. The 19th September, 2008 edition of the Sun carried on its front page a picture of a cross-section of Masaba's wives and daughters protesting at the supposedly hallowed premises of the Niger State Ministry of Justice.

As the chief law edifice defending and upholding the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria from within, the fairer gender of the Masaba family with technical advice from civil societies are reminding the world that their benefactor is above the law. Let them be reminded that this same law is supposedly the leveller of societal contradictions to help resolve the continuous clash between the excesses of culture and the loopholes of religious edicts, among others. In a matter such as this, there is always a Swiss army knife solution to accommodate the different currents of religious discourse to ventilate the expectations of literalists, fundamentalists and reformists who have all been jostling for the pre-eminent say in the final verdict in the trial billed for resumption early October.

This final solution however resides in the expansive palace of the Etsu, the first port of call of the controversy that still holds the aces for its final resolution in respect of what the courts declare. That revered office has to draw from Caliph Umar-like wisdom and is expected to expunge itself from the pedestrian counsel of self-seeking courtiers, an orb that the Etsu can well do without. The retired colonel and now commander of the faithful has to rise to the occasion of his exalted office like the combatant he retired as.

In the former Northern region, traditional rulers could at their whim order the flogging or incarceration of anyone within their respective borders, and if the alleged offender was lucky, he would be declared persona non grata. Those days are probably well gone with the Native Authority apparatus. The well-publicised news of his banishment (or is it the imposition of involuntary self-exile?), the withdrawal of the guarantee on the security of his person and questioning his ancestry by mere hearsay, predictably triggered massive wave of sympathy for Masaba, which effectively veneered his foibles.

This nevertheless brings to the fore the relevance of traditional authority in our nation-state and its characteristic inertia to reinvent to ever-changing times. That institution would have to adapt in flux or perish and do so with progressively declining relevance. The quality of present-day bureaucrats, the aloofness or irrelevance of those in retirement and the partisanship of political office-holders all combine to rob our society of the benefit of informed advice as is very apparent in this controversy. The role of the press cannot be said to be completely un-complementary because that realm of the estate is to inform, which it duly did.

However, in doing so, there is always the tendency for mischief and aggravated propaganda and that is exactly what the civil society groups are exploiting. The representation that Shehu Sani's 86 lawyers are offering for free to Masaba's numerous wives who are not even on trial might be a grand legal strategy or veiled publicity stunt; either way, what suffers irreparable tear is the very fabric of society.

In other climes, a "super polygamist" is carefully monitored but in spite of the best efforts of law enforcement, the worst still happens. David Koresh, the self-styled leader of the Branch Davidians, incinerated his wives, children, some hapless followers and himself numbering 80 in an inferno after a 51-day standoff with FBI agents at Waco in Texas on 19th April, 1993, to protest his refusal to be subject to the dictates of the law. That, of course, is an extreme example in the unconventional; so far, Masaba has conducted himself with the controlled calm of a badly-misunderstood genius.

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