Shaykh Ādam al-‘Ilūrī's Poem on Western-oriented Politics (Al-Siyāsah al-Gharbiyyah) as a Literary Diagnosis of the Nigerian Political Situation

Abstract

This article examines a short Arabic poem on politics by Shaykh Ādam ‘Abdullāhi al-Ilūrī (1917–1992) as a literary response to the moral disorder of public power. Although its precise date of composition remains unknown, the poem survives in the fourth edition of al-Tuḥfah al-Rizqiyyah, compiled by his son and published in 2022. The article therefore does not claim that the poem predicted later events in Nigeria. Instead, it argues that the poem provides a concise vocabulary for interpreting Nigeria’s post-independence political strife. Through root-play, lexical reversal, loanwords, religious imagery and a rhyme organised around the consonant sīn (the Arabic letter s), the poem depicts western-oriented politics as inwardly decayed, founded on greed, enforced through coercion and separated from moral purpose. Its reference to siyāsat al-gharb (Western-oriented politics) is read cautiously as a criticism of Western-derived political forms as al-Ilūrī understood them, including the coercive and extractive institutions inherited by the postcolonial State. Selected episodes from Nigeria’s history, including military rule, the annulment of the 12 June 1993 election, State corruption, electoral violence and abusive policing, illustrate the interpretive reach and limits of that vocabulary. The article concludes that amānah (trust), justice and consultation become politically meaningful only when they are embodied in transparent and enforceable institutions.