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| L-R: Photo combo of 15th Emir and 16th Emir of Kano: Ado Bayero and Sanusi Lamido respectively |
• Dethrones Bayero, four others
'Seun Ibukun-Oni, Abuja
Bello Alhassan, Kaduna
DAILY COURIER - The intrigues that pitched two royal families: the Bayero and the Sanusi families in a supremacy battle in the ancient city of Kano boils down to the ego fight between politicians.
The politics of the ancient and prestigious Emirate of Kano has thrown up some controversial twists and turns in the last ten years. While not as dramatic and shocking as the popular American fantasy drama series, ‘Game of Thrones’, its latest twist is the stuff of a movie script where either a centuries-old tradition or politics wins.
It started when Emir Muhammadu Sanusi II beat Aminu Ado Bayero to succeed the latter’s father, Emir Ado Bayero, in 2014. Three months shy of six years later, he would be deposed for his predecessor’s son, Aminu Ado Bayero, amid a fallout with the state governor at the time, Abdullahi Ganduje. Four years and a change of governor later, he is heading back to the throne.
The proposed Kano State Emirate Council Law 2024 passed by the Kano State House of Assembly on Thursday, May 23, dethroned Alh. Aminu Ado Bayero as Emir of Kano.
The law recognised former CBN governor, Lamido Sanusi as the Emir of Kano.
Sanusi’s portrait has since been adorning the giant wall of the Coronation Hall of Government House, Kano, while that of Aminu Bayero was since removed to pave way for Sanusi’s return to the palace.
A prelude to Sanusi’s official reinstallation was the amendment of the Kano State Emirates Council Law 2024 (1441 A.H) by the House of Assembly after the bill scaled third reading on Thursday.
“All traditional office holders and title holders elevated or appointed to an office created under the repealed Principal law, dated 5th December 2019 shall revert to their position where such positions previously existed under recognised custom and traditions prior to the enactment of the repealed Principal Law dated 5th December 2019.
“The Commissioner responsible for Local Government shall oversee all transitional arrangements including how best to deal with assets and liabilities of the abolished emirates and new structure created under the repealed Principal Law dated 5th December 2019,” said the amended law 2024.
According to the new law, “The governor shall take all necessary measures to restore the status of the Kano Emirate System to its positions prior to the enactment of the repealed Principal Law dated 5th December 2019.”
Governor Abba Yusuf as expected assented to the proposed (amendment) law on Thursday before making announcements.
Aminu Bayero reportedly on Wednesday, May 22, fled the palace and Kano to Ijebu and is presently in Ilorin.
Another source said Sanusi’s appointment as Emir of Kano by the Abba Yusuf administration has already been written.
Sanusi, who became emir in the final term of Kwankwaso as governor, was dethroned by outgoing Governor Abdullahi Ganduje, who was deputy governor at the time the monarch was installed.
Sanusi, the 14th emir of Kano, was removed on March 9, 2020, banished from Kano and sent to Loko, a remote community in Nasarawa State. The expenses of the Kano emirate under him were probed.
The Ganduje administration also added four new emirates to make it five: Bichi, Karaye, Rano, Gaya, and Kano all as First Class Emirs.
The present state Assembly however on Thursday “abolished” all the new emirates created by ex-governor Ganduje.
Here is a timeline of the good, the bad and the ugly:
June 1, 2009: Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, then Chief Executive Officer of First Bank, is nominated as Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria by President Umaru Yar’Adua. His appointment is confirmed by the Senate some 48 hours later.
February 2, 2014: President Goodluck Jonathan fires Sanusi for alleging a controversial non-remittance of a $20 billion statutory fund into the federal government’s accounts by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC), a claim the then administration refuted.
June 8, 2014: Kano State Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso appoints Sanusi to succeed his granduncle, Ado Bayero, as the Emir of Kano.
June 9, 2014: Sanusi is crowned the 14th Emir of Kano.
May 29, 2015: Kwankwaso’s deputy, Abdullahi Ganduje is sworn in as Kano governor after the general elections in the state. Ganduje, of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), is re-elected in 2019.
December 2016: Sanusi speaks about the government’s misplaced priorities.
April 24, 2017: Sanusi speaks at the Mo Ibrahim governance weekend in Morocco about the northern governors’ poor attitude towards education. His comments are perceived as a direct attack on Ganduje.
May 2017: The Kano Emirate Council comes under investigation for financial irregularities.
June 6, 2019: The Ganduje administration queries Sanusi for allegedly misappropriating N3.4 billion, an allegation the former bank chief denied.
March 9, 2020: The Ganduje administration dethrones Sanusi for ‘disrespecting lawful instructions’. Sanusi is banished to Loko Local Government Area of Nasarawa State.
March 9, 2020: Aminu Ado Bayero is appointed 15th Emir of Kano
February 2023: Kwankwaso’s political godson Abba Yusuf of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) wins the governorship election in Kano, defeating Ganduje’s man, Nasir Gawuna.
April 2023: Kwankwaso says Yusuf will review Sanusi’s dethronement.
May 22, 2024: A proposed amendment to the Kano Emirate Council Laws scales its first reading on the Kano State House of Assembly floor.
May 23, 2024: The state assembly passes the bill dissolving the emirates created by Ganduje.
May 23, 2024: Governor Yusuf signs the bill into law and reinstates Sanusi as Kano Emir under one big emirate.
