Indeed, senior politicians from across Nigeria arrived at the ceremony, their motorcades thundering past bewildered cattle herdsmen, in search of cementing old alliances and fostering new ones ahead of the 2007 general elections which are expected to produce a northern Muslim president.
Since the return of democracy to Nigeria in 1999, the northern ruling elite has become increasingly hostage to radical Islamic scholars such as Mabira, who attract thousands of faithful to their Friday sermons across the region.
Politicians introduced Muslim sharia law to the criminal courts across 12 northern states in 2000, and now push for more complete implementation of the code, including alms giving for the poor and stoning and amputation for adulterers and thieves.
Even some of those who support sharia privately feel that it is being used for the wrong reasons in Nigeria, where northern governors depend on religious leaders to deliver votes.
"They are playing to the gallery and the common man. If you uphold a man's religion he is more likely to follow you," said one Muslim government worker in Sokoto who asked not to be named.
For Mabira the politicization of Islam precludes a true Islamic state.
"Full sharia cannot be implemented under a democratic dispensation, especially this one," he said in a shabby roadside cafe, sitting under a tattered calendar displaying a half naked woman.
"The sultan is a government stooge, there to help a corrupt government perpetuate itself. Just look at the amount of money spent on this celebration."
Nearby, in the "Low-Cost" neighborhood of Sokoto, a piece of graffiti scrawled on a wall of a crumbling brick shelter read: "Down with the USA, Bin Laden rules the world."
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