Emir of Kano Muhammadu Sanusi II has condemned government officials who pursue public office primarily to embezzle funds, using business magnate Aliko Dangote as an example of how wealth can be legitimately acquired outside government.
Speaking in an interview with Channels TV from 2:32, the Emir emphasized that public service should be about serving citizens rather than personal enrichment. “When you go into public office, it’s an opportunity to serve. You don’t go into public office in order to make money. Now, many of the people that have assumed office since then simply did not have that upbringing. They did not have that training. And many people go into government, uh, for the wrong reasons. You do not go into government to make money. If you want to make money, you become a businessman. Aliko Dangote is the richest man in Africa; he has never been a governor or a minister,” he stated.
The Emir delivered a scathing assessment of Nigeria’s leadership culture, arguing that the country’s value system has been fundamentally corrupted. “So, I think the entire value system of the country has been eroded. We have been ruled by people who have no values. People who come from places where they have no names behind them and they have no desire to leave a name after them. These are people who define themselves by what they own – how many houses they have, how many private jets they have, how many billions they have in bank accounts, and they think that is something. It is not; it is not important to them,” Sanusi explained.
He described how such leaders are perceived by the public and emphasized the irrelevance of material possessions without integrity. “People look at them and they only see thieves, they see criminals, they see people who have taken away the commonwealth. The name is simply not important because for them, the values do not matter. So, I think we need an entire regeneration of values. It is not about one person. The president or the governor or a minister cannot on his own change these things in this country,” he argued.
