With the rescheduled presidential election a few days away, the social media has come alive again (as if it was ever sleep). In a broadcast that has been trending since Monday, Muhammadu Sanusi II, the emir of Kano, is quoted to have asked Nigerians to vote for Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Since the emir had made statements that appeared critical of the economic policies of President Muhammadu Buhari in the past, it was not too difficult to believe the message which has been trending.
He was speaking on Friday, February 15, at the Kano central mosque during a special prayer session for peace during and after elections. District heads and imams and scholars were present at the early morning session. TheCable has now secured the audio tape of Sanusi’s remarks, which were in Hausa.
THE CLAIM
The emir was quoted to have said: “It is not always easy to have a leader who has both integrity and capacity to govern – two important qualities of a leader. If a leader does not have both integrity and capacity to govern, choose the one that has the capacity to govern because his capacity to govern will benefit the people while his lack of integrity will be his own harm. If you choose a man who has integrity without capacity to govern, his lack of capacity to govern will harm the people while his integrity will only benefit himself.”
According to the interpretations on social media, Buhari is the leader with “integrity without capacity to govern” while Atiku is the one with “capacity without integrity”. Sanusi said Nigerians should “choose the one that has the capacity to govern because this will benefit the people while his lack of integrity will be his own harm”. But the one that lacks capacity, he said, “will harm the people while his integrity will only benefit himself”. The implication of the statement is that he is endorsing Atiku, according to those circulation the quote.
