Have you noticed that the Sultan has a strong influence on Muslims across Nigeria? Have you also noticed that Muslims look up to him for critical decisions? We can tell you why. The emergence of the Sultan of Sokoto as the President of the Nigerian Supreme Council of Islamic Affair (NSCIA) at a merger meeting by the Northern and Western Islamic bodies in Kaduna in 1973 laid the foundation for this.
The meeting did not only unify the two councils, but also promoted coordination, ended disorderliness and cacophony of opposite voices in the running of the affairs of Muslims in the country. The Sultan of Sokoto as the President was imbued with authority to give the final say and bidding on the affairs of Muslims in Nigeria.
He issues statements (press statements) on marking of anniversaries, holding ceremonies by the faithful.
Celebrations such as Eid-el-Kabir, Eid-el-Fitir and Commemoration of Prophet Muhammed’s birthday are marked in compliance with his directive. Before the Kaduna unification meeting, each of the bodies running the affairs of Muslims and their religion, Islam was independent and there was consultation or coordination on any issue and matter that made the religion tick. NSCIA is the Islamic authority that the government (Federal and State) recognised and deals with on matters such as pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina and other related affairs that ensure promotion of the religion that make things and practice of Islam comfortable for Muslims.
Before the 1973 merger, which led to setting up of a coordinating bodies to promote, preserve and give the religion a deserving weight and status in the society to stream line its activities, there was confusion among faithful as celebration and marking of festivals were held on different days. This, observers said was not unconnected with the using of the moon to fix days for celebrations. Celebration Eid-el-Fitri and Eid-el-Kabir were held on different days. First, the Northern and Western Muslims were not on the same page on the issue of marking of celebrations. On several occasions in the past, the two major Islamic celebrations Eid-el-Fitir and Eid-el-Kabir were held on different days. It was not a surprise that non-Muslims used to taunt and mock the faithful on what was regarded as absence of coordination.
The NSCIA has largely put an end to this confusion. Consultation is now the order of the day as the leadership of NSCIA engages in wide consultation across Nigeria to avoid unnecessary haggling on celebration days.
Muslims in Nigeria could be divided into three distinct groups. The caliphate group that has its headquarters in Sokoto; the Elkanem-Borno group has its headquarters in Maiduguri, while the Yoruba Muslims’ headquarters is in Ibadan. The caliphate group boasts of the largest mass of the faithful. That the Fulani could not defeat the Kanuri people in the phoney religious war despite their large army was the reason the caliphate could not bring the Kanuri people under their control. The Fulani, however, still have an edge in terms of population.
In land mass, Usman Dan Fodio has succeeded in bringing a large territory under his control. By the end of 1808, when he had captured all the Hausa kingdoms, history recognised that he was ruling one of the largest territories in Africa. From this perspective, Dan Fodio had the largest Islamic caliphate in Africa under his control. If democratic practise which asserts that the majority has its way, while the minority has its way is embraced, there is no Muslim group in Nigeria that can contest the leadership of Muslims against the Sokoto caliphate. That, perhaps, was the reason the Sultan of Sokoto was unanimously pick to be the President of NSCIA in Kaduna in 1973.
Till date, no other Muslims from either the Yoruba or the Kanuri stock in Nigeria has produced NSCIA’s president. In a word, Sokoto has been recognised by all and sundry as not only the capital of the Sultanate, but also the headquarters of Islamic faithful that supplies the President of NSCIA. In other words, only the descendants of Usman Dan Fodio are entitled to become not only the Sultan but also the President of the NSCIA.
Thus the President of NSCIA is the voice of Muslims in Nigeria. The faithful recognise, accept the hierarchical order made possible by the size and population of the Sultanate Muslim. Under the Sultan of Sokoto are many emirs who recognise his superiority and unmatched eminence in the Muslim world in Nigeria. It is, therefore, not sheer adulation or phantom of self conceitedness that influence and power of the Sultan of Sokoto on Muslims affairs and relations are eminence from all Islamic perspectives of life.
– Tajudeen Adigun
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