By Abiodun Omonijo, 25th May, 2024
God, he said in his first public reaction to his re-instatement, gives leadership to whom he wants and at the time he wants.
“When He gives, no one can take it away, and when he takes it away, nobody can take it back,” he said.
Governor Yusuf said Sanusi’s re-instatement was meant to correct his ‘victimization’ (dethronement) in 2019.
Former Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso, who had first installed Sanusi in June 2014, denied giving directive for the reinstatement while some protesters, the Concerned Patriots of Nigeria, yesterday stormed the National Assembly and called on its leadership to intervene in the ongoing crisis in Kano Emirate.
Sanusi, speaking yesterday after receiving his appointment letter, said the unfolding events in Kano underscored the Arab saying that “in everything that we are going to witness, there is a lesson that shows us that God is there.”
He added: Whatever is happening to an individual is preordained by Allah, and to those who are sensible enough, it’s a lesson.
“God is one and whatever He does, nobody can change and what He doesn’t do, nobody can.
“Time will not permit for long talks. Whatever we will say, we have said it when we were leaving.
“We made it clear that God has preordained time and cause for everything and everyone. He gave leadership to whom he wanted and at the time he wanted.
“When He gives, no one can take it away, and when he takes it away, nobody can take it back.”
Addressing the governor and members of the State Assembly in particular, Sanusi said: “My Governor and our assembly members, you will not understand the gravity of what you did for the history of Kano and the country at large.
“Among Kano Emirs, it started from Bagauda over 1,000 years ago. In this year, it was once that we had Emir Muhammadu Koguna who was overthrown and he came back after some days. This shows that in 1,000 years, there has been no case like what happened now.
“In the northern part of this country, we have seen it in different states how politicians balkanised emirates with a state with one Emir becoming 20, some 19. In states of northern Nigeria, there are local governments with two or three first-class emirs all because the system has been destroyed.
“This thing that has been brought to Kano, had it been it was allowed, one day we will wake up with Emir of Kumbotso, Bichi, Fagge and 44 Emirs. So what the government and the assembly did is a rescue mission.”
Why we brought him back — Governor
Governor Yusuf said his action in re-instating the Emir was borne out of his (Yusuf’s) conviction that Sanusi was victimised in 2019 when he was dethroned.
“So, we had a feeling that we had to bring back what is due to the good people of the state. And by doing that, the bill was signed around after 5pm and there was no problem.
“We signed the bill into law and it has become our law; nobody will change it,” the governor said.
He said his decision was guided by collective and careful judgment about his (Sanusi’s) confidence, credibility and proven intellect that he will, by the grace of Allah, at this trying period of the emirate, deploy his wealth of experience to provide the required visionary and purposeful leadership to reunite and rebuild the traditional institution.
He said: “Yesterday (Thursday) we gathered here in Government House and had series of meetings with the kingmakers. We also had extensive discussions with the Speaker and members of the State House of Assembly. We also had time to sit with the heads of security agencies in the state.
“At the end of the day, we all sat down at that chamber, where I received the bill that repealed the former law and I signed the bill into law.
“By the powers conferred on me by the Kano State Emirates Council of Chiefs, the Kano State Appointment and Deposition Law of 1984, in consonance with the Kano State Emirate Council Repealed Law 2024 and supported by the recommendation of the Kano State Emirates Council kingmakers who are here with us, I, Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf of Kano State have the singular pleasure to confirm the appointment of Sanusi Lamido Aminu Sanusi as the 16th emir of Kano and the head of Kano emirates council.”
He thanked the Speaker and State Assembly members for their “doggedness, commitment and respect for the rule of law,” saying what the lawmakers had done was a testament of their interest in the welfare of the people of the state.
The governor alleged that Justice Mohammed Liman of the Federal High Court Kano, who granted the Thursday order restraining the Kano State Government from enforcing the Kano State Emirate Council Repeal Law and removing the emirs installed in five emirates in Kano following the dethronement of Sanusi, was in far away United States of America (USA).
He said he signed the law at exactly 5:14pm before the court order case.
“It means they were already armed with the motion ex-parte even before he gave assent to the bill passed by the State House of Assembly. Or at what time did they approach the court to obtain the order?” he asked.
Governor Yusuf added: “The judge is in America. How could he sit in America and give order in Nigeria to stop a legitimate process?”
He said Sanusi’s reinstatement was delayed because due process was being followed.
According to the new law, “All traditional office holders and title holders elevated or appointed to office created under the repealed Principal Law, dated 5th December, 2019 shall revert to their position where such positions previously existed under recognised custom and traditions prior to the enactment of the repealed Principal Law dated 5th December, 2019.”
Yusuf said: “It is not a new stool; neither is Sanusi a new emir. The king has only returned home to his throne after it was balkanised. It has all along been his throne.”
The governor said Kano was peaceful and calm, and he appealed to the people to go about their businesses.
The governor said Sanusi would return to his lodge with members of his emirate council after the Jumat prayers to continue with the business of the emirate council.
“An announcement shall be made later as to when he will move to the palace,” the governor said.
He charged the emir, an Islamic scholar, to use his wisdom to unite all the Islamic sects in the state.
As soon as he received his appointment letter and confirmation as Emir of Kano, all the district heads and senior council chiefs bowed and paid allegiance to him at the Africa House.
Group protests Sanusi’s reinstatement
The Concerned Patriots of Nigeria accused Governor Yusuf of taking what they called his abuse of office to another level by dissolving the traditional council.
They carried placards expressing their concern.
They urged the NASS leadership to resolve the crisis and ensure the restoration of peace and stability in the state.
Coordinator of the group, Abdullahi Muhammed Saleh, said: “A lot has been going wrong in the state but the Concerned Patriots of Nigeria had thought it best to allow Kano State to sort out its thorny issues.
“However, Thursday’s brash actions of Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf of Kano State, who sacked five emirs to reappoint Alhaji Muhammadu Sanusi as the 14th Emir of Kano has awoken us to the urgency of raising the alarm about the destructive excesses of the state governor.
“Since being sworn into office, Governor Abba Yusuf has a string of loutish acts that runs like a hardened criminal’s rap sheet. All in the name of rubbishing his predecessor, he started with a demolition spree that has served to impoverish the people whose lives he took an oath to improve. Thus he proved himself to be anti-people.
“The Governor then attempted to destroy the structures of political parties in the state. The impish fanaticism with which he pursued this illicit mission saw him intruding into the structure of other political parties, including hiring some charlatans who purportedly suspended the national chairman of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, who is interestingly his predecessor. Thus he proved himself to be anti-democratic.
Kwankwaso: Reinstatement not my directive
Responding to the allegation that Sanusi’s reinstatement followed his 2023 statement that the 2019 dethronement would be reviewed, Kwankwaso said on BBC Hausa yesterday that he heard, like other people, that the State Assembly had repealed the law on the creation of more emirates in Kano.
He said: “When I said we would revisit the case, I didn’t say the direction to follow.
“I just said it would be reviewed… When I go there, I will hear what happened, and I am sure they will tell me whatever happened. And whatever they tell me, we just pray for them. I heard the Assembly members had repealed the law.
“What we were telling them was they should go and investigate whether what happened was done out of goodwill or not. What happened appears to be a vendetta or cheating. It’s just a matter of did Ganduje do right or wrong. It’s not about going against him.
“I will go to Kano very soon and I will speak with some of the assembly members, especially the speaker and the Governor, on what is happening.”
He added: “Those that are looking at it from the perspective of whether it’s going to be tenure-based are somehow right. But who started it?
“When I came back as Governor in 2011, everybody knew that the late Emir of Kano, Ado Bayero, was not supporting us; he was supporting (Ex-Gov Ibrahim Shekarau).
“But when we got into power we didn’t even think of dethroning him. This is why we are telling people that everybody should sit down where he belongs.”
