Muhammadu Sanusi II, the 16th Emir of Kano and one of the country’s most outspoken traditional rulers, delivered a scathing indictment of Nigeria’s political class on Saturday, describing decades of misrule under what he called “lousy leadership.”
Speaking at the second Kano International Poetry Festival, Sanusi said Nigeria has endured leaders who lack both competence and vision, leaving the country adrift while other nations debate global challenges like climate change and artificial intelligence.
“You rise and fall with the quality of your leadership and Nigeria has had lousy leadership for a long time,” the emir said. “In most parts of this country, you look at people who are leading you and you say, ‘Oh God, is this really the person? How did we end up here?’”
Sanusi, a former central bank governor known for challenging successive governments, said Nigeria would have slid into bankruptcy had President Bola Tinubu not ended the country’s long-standing fuel subsidy program earlier this year.
“If you look at the billions and billions that were spent on subsidies, if that money had been spent on refineries, we would not be where we are today,” he said, arguing that the policy had long benefited foreign refiners rather than Nigerian citizens. “Beyond a point, government revenue will not be enough to pay the subsidy. You have to borrow to pay the subsidy.”
Sanusi urged young Nigerians to “rise up and take over the country” from a political elite he described as clinging to outdated divisions. “We are still mired in conversations from the 1960s—Yoruba or Igbo or Hausa, North or South, Christian or Muslim,” he said. “Meanwhile, other countries are debating the future.”
The emir also warned against the mounting levels of government borrowing, which he said risked mortgaging the country’s future.
The festival, organized by Poetic Wednesdays Initiative under the theme “Poetry in a Time of Crisis,” sought to highlight how poetry and art can serve as tools for peace building amid insecurity in Northern Nigeria.
“Poetry is not just art,” said Nasiba Babale, the festival’s creative director. “It is a voice for resilience in times of crisis.”