Kano court declares appointment of new emirs null and void

A Kano State high court Wednesday declared the appointment and the installation of four new emirs by the Kano State government as null and void.

It ordered a return to status quo pending the hearing of the suit against the appointment of the emirs filed by one Rabiu Salihu Garwzo.

Counsel to the plaintiff, Abubakar Balarabe Mahmoud (SAN) told journalists that by the pronouncement of the court, Emir Muhammad Sanusi remains the only recognized emir in Kano.

The emirs were installed by the Governor Umaru Ganduje at the weekend following the balkanisation of the centuries-old emirate by the Kano state government that followed an unusually fast passage of a bill by the Kano State House of Assembly.

Ganduje was accused of carrying out a personal vendetta against the Emir of Kano Muhammad Sanusi II in order to whittle down his influence in one of Nigeria’s oldest traditional institutions.

But the governor insisted the future of the state was taken into consideration before Kano Emirate was divided into five smaller units.

“For easier local administration as Kano state moves in a new direction to deliver community-based growth, we have decided to create 4 new Emirates for our great state,” Ganduje said on May 10.

Governor Ganduje signed the Kano State Emirs Appointment and Deposition Amendment 2019 into last Thursday and the emirs were given their letter of appointment on Friday.

A court order barring the governor from appointing and installing new emirs was issued by Justice Nasiru Saminu on Friday. But the state government claimed the order came after the persons appointed as emirs had accepted their appointments.

The governor is also facing another suit brought against him and state government by four kingmakers – Madakin Kano, District head of Dawakintofa, Yusuf Nabahani; Makaman Kano, District head of Wudil, Abdullahi Sarki-Ibrahim; Sarkin Dawaki Mai Tuta, District head of Gabasawa, Bello Abubakar and Sarkin Ban Kano, District head of Dambatta, Mukhtar Adnan.

The Kano House of Assembly, the Attorney General of Kano State and the new emir – Tafida Abubakar-Ila, Ibrahim Abdulkadir, Ibrahim Abubakar ll and Aminu Ado-Bayero – were also named as defendants in the suit.