Muslim Brotherhood: Between ideals and practices

…also published in Daily Trust

Former Egyptian President, Morsi and Turkish President, Erdoğan

As in many parts of the world, the circumstances of the death of the ousted Egyptian President, Mohammad Morsi evoked feelings of sympathy for him among Nigerian Muslims as much as it triggered their anger against the Egyptian President, Abdul-Fattah El-Sisi who they believe is responsible for Morsi’s death.

Mohammad Morsi was a key figure in the Muslim Brotherhood, a transnational political organization supposedly pushing for Islamic political reforms in Muslim countries. It was created in Egypt by Hassan Al-Bannah in 1928, and it has ever since then spread across the Middle East and beyond where it has operated as political opposition under various party names.

Implications of Ganduje/Sarki face-off between exaggeration and reality

...also published in Daily Trust

When the dots are connected between last Tuesdays’ closed-door meeting between President Buhari and Governor Ganduje of Kano state, and the latter’s subsequent reassurance that there were talks to end the face-off between him and the Sarkin Kano Muhammadu Sunusi ll, and also the court order, issued on the same day, for the suspension of the corruption probe against the Sarki, it’s reasonable to conclude that President Buhari has finally saved the Sarki from imminent suspension and possible deposition by the Governor, at least for now. Aliko Dangote and Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State had tried unsuccessfully in this regard.

However, though, Governor Ganduje was, by all indications determined to depose the Sarki, he had apparently realized that he would face overwhelming lobbying and tremendous pressure to abandon the plan; that’s why he decided to inflict an irreparable vengeance on the Sarki by orchestrating accelerated formulation of laws creating four equally first-class emirates from the Kano State Emirate, thereby reducing the domain size under the Sarki to less than one-quarter of what it used to be.