Chuks Okocha in Abuja and Ibrahim Shuaibu in Kano
The presidential candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) in the 2023 general election and leader of the Kwankwasiyya Movement, Senator Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso, has said the incoming government of the Governor-elect of Kano State, Abba Kabir Yusuf, will revisit the dethronement of the 14th Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammadu Sanusi II.
Sanusi, who became emir in the final term of Kwankwaso as governor of the state, was dethroned by the outgoing Governor Abdullahi Ganduje, who was the deputy governor at the time the monarch was installed.
Sanusi was removed on March 9, 2020, and also banished from Kano and sent to Loko, a remote community in Nasarawa State, while the expenses of the emirate under him were probed.
He later became the leader of the Tijaniyya Islamic sect in Nigeria, after he was turbaned in Senegal as the Khalifa of the Tijaniyya sect in Nigeria by Sheikh Mahi Ibrahim Inyass, the Grand Khalifa of the Tijaniyya Movement.
However, the Federal High Court, Abuja, later declared his banishment from Kano State as unlawful and unconstitutional.
Delivering judgment in Sanusi’s suit in November 2021, Justice Anwuli Chikere awarded N10 million compensation to him and against the respondents comprising the police, the Department of State Services (DSS), and the Attorney-General of Kano State.
She also ordered them to tender a public apology to him in two national dailies.
She held that the Emirate Council Law, 2019, relied on by the Kano State government in banishing Sanusi conflicted with the Nigerian Constitution.
Following the court judgment, Sanusi had in February this year paid a historic visit to Kano State, barely three years after he was deposed from the throne.
Sanusi arrived at the Aminu Kano International Airport and moved straight to his mother’s residence which is located along Ibrahim Dabo Road.
The former Emir later clarified that he was in Kano on his way to Dutse, Jigawa State.
He explained that he could not fly directly to Jigawa State, because of the bad weather and had to stop over in Kano.
After dethroning Sanusi, Ganduje had also enacted a law splitting the Kano emirate into five and appointed emirs who were at par.
But speaking in a viral video, Kwankwaso said the dethronement and balkanisation of the emirate would be reviewed by the incoming government of the governor-elect, Abba Kabir Yusuf, who is popularly known as Abba Gida-Gida.
According to the NNPP presidential candidate, “We have campaigned and as you know we are popular in Nigeria, especially in Kano State, we are now back and God willing we will continue with the good works our administration left. This incoming governor and his team will take them up.
“As elders, we will continue to advise them to do the right thing. We tried not to intervene in the issue of bringing or removing any Emir, but now, an opportunity has come.
“Those who were given this opportunity will sit down and see to the issues. They will look at what they are expected to do.
“Besides the Emir, even the emirate has been divided into five places. All these need to be studied. Usually, a leader inherits good, bad, and issues that are hard to reconcile.”
He further prayed for God’s intervention to allow the incoming governor to be able to handle things easily.
When contacted, an official of the NNPP in Kano told THISDAY on the condition of anonymity that “the video is genuine but I can’t say anything about it. It’s not my duty to talk about it”.
However, all efforts to contact the spokesperson of Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, Mr Ladipo Johson proved abortive as he declined to answer the phone call or respond to a text message sent to him.
Recall that one year after he removed Sanusi, Ganduje had said he decided to save the system and the traditional institution from abuse.
Speaking at the presentation of a book on former President Goodluck Jonathan, authored by a journalist, Mr. Bonaventure Melah, Ganduje had said the former emir was not the best man for the throne, alleging that the deposed emir was appointed to spite former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Jonathan had in April 2014 removed Sanusi as governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) over claims by the ex-CBN governor that $49 billion was stolen by some persons under the Jonathan administration.
Faulting Sanusi’s public outburst over the alleged fraud, Ganduje said the ex-CBN governor ought to have discussed the matter privately with the former president who in turn could have directed an investigation into the allegation.
“Jonathan took a bold step in [removing] Sanusi as CBN governor, which created bad blood in certain circles. When Sanusi said $49 billion was lost in Jonathan’s government, I said in my mind that no, you could have discussed it with him (Jonathan) privately.
“You could have given him this clue and then he would know how to investigate even before those who had stolen the money would find a way of hiding the money.
“That statement, I said in my mind, was not honourable. That statement created bad blood… Sanusi was appointed Emir of Kano not because he was the best man for the throne but to retaliate what Jonathan did to him,” Ganduje reportedly explained.
