By Abdulmumin Giwa
Sheikh Sani Yakubu, projected by the media as the elder brother of Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky, is indeed an elder brother of the Sheikh but of the same father and not of the same mother. There is that rivalry, usually amongst polygamous families in the Hausa land, they call it ‘yan ubanci’. This rivalry is usually among children of the same fathers but of different mothers.
Everyone is striving to be ahead of the other in mostly life achievements, material acquisition and power, especially among the royalties. It enhances hatred and avarice among such people. It is indeed a very terrible ailment. That is the sickness striking him.
He is an old man that is neither wise nor foolish as stated by a commentator that responded to his claims.
He fails to understand that his knowledge of religion has not been useful enough to him to stop him from becoming a tool in the hands of some dirty politicians that will use him, destroy his integrity and dump him.
He was used in 2015 by the Kaduna state government to help convince the public of the Zaria massacre. Also, the Nigerian Army used him to tame the public uproar accusing them of extra judicial killing when they hosted a gathering of Sunni scholars to seek their support in their ‘war against Shiites’ and made him to speak to the media against his blood brother.
At that time, Maj Gen Adeniyi Oyebade, now Commandant NDA, was the Commandant of 1 Mechanized Division and a Christian. He led his men to the Zaria massacre where over 1000 unarmed men, women and children were extra judicially killed with some buried alive. Sheikh Sani foolishly called on the Army to do the same to Christians forgetting that his host is one. He likened the Shiites to Christians. The Army had to appeal to the media in this regard in order not to allow the public view them as committing genocide by murdering a minority group.
Another reason for his misguided outburst is that, Sheikh Sani is the leader of the Izalatul bid’a wa iqamatus Sunna, (the major Wahhabi Sunnis group in Nigeria) in Zaria. They have a general negative view about any other sect or understanding about Islam that is not theirs. In fact they consider the Tariqa as unbelievers and they don’t eat what the Tariqa slaughter. They concoct a lot of accusations against the Shiites accusing them of all sorts of abominations that are unsubstantiated. So, there is nothing surprising now that he is spitting out hate speech against the revered leader of the Islamic Movement, Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky. They are very extremist and fanatical, in fact the Boko Haram emanated from such ideas.
Due to his low intelligence and mentality, he is unable to understand the consequences of his statement today as he did in 2015 when he honored the Nig Army event and was begging a newsman not to air what he said.
He is now so belittled and is being used again by the same people that dumped him after use in 2015. They are bringing him back to use him again to convince angry Nigerians of their criminal acts of distortion and manipulation of law and order. Nobody wants to believe that Sheikh Zakzaky has anything to do with terrorism.
This time around, he has messed them up again. They want to tell the world that they are not fighting against Shi’ites but IMN and in his talks he is condemning Shi’a and not IMN. This further exposed the calumny being sponsored by the Kaduna governor ‘Mufti’ Elrufai who declared that Islamic Movement are not Islamic, thereby justifying his sectarian inclination and sentiment.
Sheikh Sani’s hatred of Sheikh Zakzaky because of his Shiism has been long standing. The military used him so much in the past, especially during the Judicial Commission of Inquiry sittings, where he stated so much falsehood against the Sheikh without basis.
He was asked and he agreed that he could even kill his brother (the Sheikh) because he brought "division" in the family as he claimed.
However, Sheikh Zakzaky has many other brothers and sisters, who are very supportive of the Sheikh, although some are not even Shi’ites.
For instance, an elder brother, Malam Abdulkadir, is a Sunni and he is very supportive and is among those that visit him at the moment with all his children.
There is another younger brother, Malam Badamasi that is a Shi’ite and active. There is a younger sister, Malama Maimuna who is a Shi’ite also. Another elder sister, Malama Fatima was killed during the pogrom, she was burned alive by the army at the the residence of the Sheikh in Dec 2015.
She was a Shi’ite and went to be with her brother (the Sheikh during those trying moments).
Finally, the Sheikh’s mother, who until her death a year earlier than the December 2015 massacre, lived all her last years in the Gyellesu residence of the Sheikh, as she often mentioned, as her favourite son. The military went to her grave situated far away in an isolated part of Zaria and desecrated the grave during the December 2015 massacre.
Thus it is purely the hate of a Sunni to Shi’ite taken too far. As a leader of the Sunni faction in Zaria and his brother a Shi’ite leader nationwide, he is showing both envy and hatred.