PART 4 As he spoke with considerable rage from his pulpit, his gleeful supporters and frenzied followers nodded in agreement to everything Maitatsine said. To them, he was nothing but an angel, God’s own manifestation on the face of the earth. Many swore they would lay down their lives for him, and they were not joking. At the height of his power and influence, Mohammed Marwa was the toast of the high and mighty. Influential personalities paid him visits in his Kano powerhouse seeking his services as a marabout. High-ranking clerics also visited his sprawling quarters. That the high political class and the religious elite have worked hand in hand to unleash terror upon the populace for their selfish gains is an unfortunate recurring decimal in Nigeria’s history. But what is even more unfortunate is the desperate attempts by some Nigerians (who are already bearing the brunt of the stupidity of the ruling class) to either justify the actions or even shift blames. At a point, Marwa had become so powerful to the extent that he operated his own autonomous enclave. Because his followers regarded other Muslims as heretics, they avoided the general population and lived in an isolated section of the city. You know, in the Reverend Jim Jones style. Like the Hamaliyya sect of the Tijanniya order, the Maitatsine preferred to live in their own hermit kingdom, creating a minuscule North Korea in the heart of Kano. Interestingly, one of the fastest and most efficient ways to indoctrinate anyone is to isolate them or cut them off from relatives and friends and then subject them to a constant stream of sweet propaganda. Maitatsine and his followers lived in an area of Kano called Yan Awaki. In this enclave, he was the absolute ruler and the king that no one dared question. He was clearly, a power unto himself. From within the comfort provided by the confines of his Yan Awaki residence, he launched scathing verbal assaults against the city’s imperial ruler, Emir Sanusi who was the traditional leader of all Muslims in the city. With thousands of eager youths at his beck and call, flanking him on all sides and ready to carry out his even his flimsiest instructions to the last, Maitatsine felt he had the height of it all. He became bolder, more confrontational and even more daring as the sun rose and set. But the Emir, the government and the security agents were not finding his astronomical rise and popularity funny at all. The royal institution incollabowith the religious establishment and with the tacit support of the state government, decided to act fast before this volcano blew up on their turbaned heads. So in the year 1962, the Emir released a royal edict indicting Marwa of various crimes. He was accused of preaching illegally and for engaging in what is calledshatimatior abusive speech infiqh(Islamic jurisprudence). An obstinate Maitatsine was then brought before aqadi(Muslim judge) to face proper judgment. It was not funny at all. Theqadisentenced him to 90 days in jail and after serving out his sentence, he was promptly deported to Cameroon. Many thought that was the end but the battle had just started. Maitatsine would return, full of renewed vigour, hate and anger. The Nigerian populace would suddenly be rudely woken up to the latest brand of terror in town. Towards the late 1960s, Maitatsine managed to slip back into Nigeria. Not only that, he made his way back to Kano where he properly settled in his Yan Awaki area. But the authorities would also make life hell for him and between the years 1972 and 1979, he was in and out of prison under the military regimes that could not just keep up with the nonsense anymore. In 1973 for example, he was arrested for preaching without a permit and locked up in Makurdi Prison until 1975. However, when the civilians came with the election of Shehu Shagari in 1979, tensions were doused, things became better and Maitatsine took full advantage of the newly-found freedom. THE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF: The election of Shagari meant more freedom from Maitatsine who was severally jailed under the military. Shagari would later approve of the use of federal troops to capture Maitatsine, dead or alive. Photo credits: Clawson/Wikimedia Commons Bitter and enraged, he would once again worm his way into the hearts of his followers who believed that he was unjustly victimized by the Kano elite and monarchy. It must be pointed out that a vast majority of Maitatsine’s followers were street beggars and destitute, calledalmajirisorgardawasin the local dialect. Many of these people learnt the Qur’an from him and got high on his bold and eloquent teachings. To them, the state was nothing but a sheer representation of evil and oppression, as exemplified by the imprisonment and deportation of their highly-revered leader. A very clever and intelligent man, Maitatsine was not blind to all these developments and in time, he would make his boldest claim ever. He told his enthusiastic followers that he was the forerunner of the much-awaitedMahdi(Saviour or Messiah) who would wipe away all their tropical tears and take them to the much-desired Promised Land. He said he was the saviour to rescue them from the tyranny of the establishment. He would banish the infidels, bring peace to the land, erase all their wheelbarrow-pushing suffering and water-hawking stress. For centuries, West African Muslims believe and still believe that a Mahdi would eventually emerge to get rid of all the injustices of this world.
Posted on: Thu, 18 Dec 2014 08:33:08 +0000
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