Kano Emir: A’ Court stays action, returns Bayero, Sanusi case to Supreme Court

The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja on Tuesday stayed actions earlier delivered against the reinstatement of Muhammadu Sanusi II as the 16th Emir of Kano.

The appellate court, upon acknowledging the transmission of the record to the Supreme Court, directed all interested parties to exercise caution pending the hearing of their appeals at the apex court.

In a unanimous ruling delivered by a three-member panel of justices, presided over by Hon. Justice Biobele Abraham Georgewill, the court agreed to the withdrawal of the application filed by the Kano State Government after the transmission of the record of appeal to the Supreme Court.

While resuming the hearing to rule on the enforcement of its earlier orders, counsel to the Kano State Government, Barrister Ibrahim Wangida, informed the court of a notice of appeal against the stay of execution granted on Friday, March 14, 2025.

Barrister Wangida told the court that all necessary legal actions had been completed, including the transmission of the record to the Supreme Court.

The transmission of the record of appeal to the Supreme Court, by implication and judicial precedent, operates as a stay of any action on the ruling of the Court of Appeal delivered on March 14, 2025.

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Recall that Justice Abang, on Friday, March 14, 2025, ordered a stay of execution of his earlier judgment that validated the reinstatement of Muhammadu Sanusi II as the 16th Emir of Kano.

The judge also ordered all parties to maintain the status quo ante bellum, as well as the sheriff of the court and the trial court, as it was before the trial court’s judgment delivered on June 13, 2024, in suit no. FHC/KN/CS/182/2024.

Dissatisfied with Justice Abang’s ruling, counsel to the Kano State Government, Barrister Wangida, faulted the March 14 ruling, arguing that it constituted a gross error in interpreting constitutional provisions. He noted that an appeal had already been filed before the apex court.

Responding to the notice of the application, counsel to the appellant, Abdul Fagge (SAN), who did not object to the notice, told the court that the respondent acted within constitutional provisions.

The Kano State Government had reinstated Muhammadu Sanusi II as the 16th Emir of Kano pursuant to the Kano State Emirate Council (Repeal) Law 2024. The same law deposed Aminu Ado Bayero as the 15th Emir, along with four first-class emirs appointed by former Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje.

Bayero, however, has forcefully returned and occupied the Nasarawa mini palace in Kano under heavy security cover while challenging his removal by the state government.