US-based Nigerian academic, Prof Farooq Kperogi has reasoned that the proposed sanctions by the United States Congress against former Kano governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso, over alleged violations of religious freedoms in Nigeria may turn out “a political gift”.
Four American congressmen had introduced a bill in Congress titled, ‘The Nigeria Religious Freedom and Accountability Act of 2026,’ which draws inspiration from the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act which recommended visa bans and asset freezes against individuals and entities accused of involvement in religious freedom abuses.
The bill urged the Departments of State and Treasury to consider targeted sanctions, including visa bans and asset freezes under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, against individuals or entities responsible for severe religious freedom violations. Specifically named for consideration are Fulani-ethnic nomad militias, the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore and former Kano State Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso.
“Fulani-ethnic nomad militias in Nigeria; Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, former Kano State Governor; Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN); and Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore. The Secretary of State should determine whether certain Fulani-ethnic militias in Nigeria, qualify as a foreign terrorist organisation under section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
“Individuals and networks—domestic or foreign—that provide support to these Fulani-ethnic militias should be investigated and held accountable,” requested the sponsors namely Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey, Rep. Riley Moore of West Virginia and other co-sponsors, including Reps. Brian Mast, Mario Diaz-Balart and Bill Huizenga.
And in a Facebook update on Thursday, Kperogi insisted that Kwankwaso did not fit the description of a religious fanatic by any stretch of imagination. He recounted how as Assistant News Editor for Weekly Trust he monitored events around the time Sharia law was introduced in Kano under Kwankwaso in June 2000.
The journalist-cum-academic said Kwankwaso was so reluctant to introduce it that it pitched him against the Islamic religious establishment in the state.
According to him, “Anyone with even the faintest familiarity with Kwankwaso’s trajectory and disposition knows that he is not, by any stretch of the imagination, a religious fanatic.
“As Kano’s governor, he was famously (and for Sharia advocates, infamously) unenthusiastic about the introduction of Sharia in 2000. I know because I covered the intrigues that culminated in its declaration that year, as this screenshot testifies.
“My June 30, 2000, Weekly Trust report, co-written with the paper’s then Kano correspondent Sulaiman Aliyu and titled ‘Sharia: Triumph of Kano Masses,’ showed that Kwankwaso resisted declaring Sharia for months and was at odds with both everyday people and the Muslim clerical establishment over the matter.”
According to Kperogi, the 2023 NNPP presidential candidate may have been targeted as he was the only nationally prominent Nigerian politician who openly criticised the United States’ designation of Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern.
He said the US lawmakers may inadvertently turn Kwankwaso into a larger-than-life political figure in Northern Nigeria whose influence would only be comparable to that wielded by the late Muhammadu Buhari.
“Meanwhile, this seems to me like a rhetorical and political gift to Kwankwaso, whom I once dismissed as a ‘local champion’ at the expense of inviting the raw rage of his supporters. He has struggled for years to gain political traction outside Kano.
“This is probably the gift he has been waiting for to become the unofficial Sardauna of Hausaphone Muslim Arewa, like Muhammadu Buhari was,” the opinion piece on Facebook read.
