About 57 years after his grandfather, Muhammadu Sanusi I, was deposed by the late Premier of Northern Region, Sir Ahmadu Bello, Emir of Kano, Malam Muhammadu Sanusi ll, has suffered the same fate in the hands of the government.
The embattled Emir was dethroned following an announcement by the Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Usman Alhaji.
“The Emir has been removed with immediate effect,’’ he said, adding “a new emir will be announced in due course’’.
He urged the people to remain calm and go about their normal businesses.
Persecondnews recalls that his grandfather, Muhammadu Sanusi I, had reigned from 1953 to 1963 and was deposed by Ahmadu Bello while his father, Aminu Sanusi, served as the Ciroma of Kano.
Sanusi ascended the throne in 2014 during the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan following the death of his granduncle, Ado Bayero.
Jonathan suspended him after he raised the alarm that $20 billion was missing from the coffers of government.
The sacked Emir, an economist and banker, had served as the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria from 2009 to 2014.
Again, he has been locked in battle with Kano Governor Umar Ganduje since 2019 for allegedly supporting the governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Abba Kabir-Yusuf.
Emir Sanusi was still being probed by the statement for an alleged N2 billion land sale fraud while the Kano Emirate has been split into four emirates.
The Kano anti-graft agency investigated the emir over what it called “questionable” expenditure to the tune of N 4 billion but the probe was later suspended.
Giving reasons for Sanusi’s removal, the government secretary cited “disrespect to the office of the governor and other government agencies’’.
He said:“ The emir’s action violated the Part 3 Section A-E of Kano State Law, hence the removal.
“The removal is in line with consultation with relevant stakeholders.’’
Earlier on Monday, there was a free-for-all at the Kano State House of Assembly over the lingering crisis between the state government and the Emir.
No sooner than the Chairman, House Standing Committee on Public Complaints and Petitions, Alhaji Hamza Ibrahim Ci-Dari, raised an observation regarding the two petitions against Sanusi that trouble began.
He was immediately shout down by some members of the House, particularly members of the opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party, who insisted that it was against the rule of the House to raise an observation during plenary on a petition that is before a committee which has not submitted its report.
It, however, triggered a fight between APC and PDP members as they struggle to seize the Mace, the symbol of authority of the parliament.
It took the intervention of the Sergeant-at-Arms and security men to rescue the mace while Speaker Abdulaziz Garba Gafasa announced the postponement of the session for 30 minutes.
According to reports, there is a heavy presence of armed security men at the Assembly complex, Government House and the Emir’s palace.
A Federal High Court in Kano had last month quashed the report of the commission that indicted the Emir over an allegation of N3.4 billion fraud from the Emirate Council fund.
Last Friday, another Federal High Court in Kano restrained Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission from investigating the emir over alleged land racketeering to the tune of N2. 2 billion.
Justice Lewis Allagoa ordered the commission and its Chairman, Barrister Rimingado to maintain the status quo in the interim pending the determination of the case filed before it by the emir.
The order, dated March 6, 202 and signed by Justice Allagoa, a copy of which was obtained by Daily Trust reads in parts: “The status quo be maintained in the interim pending the hearing and determination of the originating motion”.
Justice Allagoa adjourned the case till March 18, 2020 for hearing.
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