With the swearing-in of Abba Kabir Yusuf, Kano State governor-elect, only 21 days away, the recent revelation by Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, his political godfather, that the incoming government would review the dethronement of Emir Muhammadu Sanusi II and the ‘balkanisation’ of the Kano emirate has continued to heat the polity with different viewpoints for and against it struggling for prominence.
Politics Nigeria understands that Kwankwaso, the leader of the Kwankwasiyya Movement and presidential candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), made the declaration in a recent interview when asked if he thought the administration of his godson would reverse the dethronement of Sanusi.
“As elders, we will continue to advise them to do the right thing. We tried not to intervene in the issue of bringing or removing any emir, but now, an opportunity has come. Those who have been given this opportunity will sit down and address the issues. They will look at what they are expected to do.
“Besides the emir, even the emirate has been divided into five places. All these need to be studied. Usually, a leader inherits good and bad issues that are hard to reconcile,” Kwankwaso said.
But Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, in a swift response, said the new emirates have come to stay. The governor, while addressing unionists on Workers Day, said the emirates have “brought development to these places.
“These emirates were created for unity, progress, history, and also for the recovery of the reputation of the traditional institutions. We created them to honour the people of these regions. “I want to assure you that these emirates are permanent, they have come to stay on their own. By the grace of God, until the end of this world. And anybody that will destroy them, God Almighty will not bring him to Kano State. We assure you that these emirates were created because of you, because of your progress.
“Even if we are not in government, we are praying and we will keep praying for God to protect these emirates from all evil. I thank you all,” Ganduje said.
Sanusi was appointed by Kwankwaso as the Emir of Kano in 2014 following the death of Alhaji Ado Bayero, who had been on the throne for over five decades. Before his appointment, Sanusi had just been removed by then president Goodluck Jonathan in April 2014 as the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) over claims by the ex-CBN governor that $20 billion was stolen by some persons under the Jonathan administration.
Many people then opined that his subsequent appointment as emir was to spite the president, especially as he was the first Sullubawa prince since the 19th century, when the Dabo dynasty was founded, to become emir outside the established process of the right of the first-born child (especially a son) to inherit the title. The perceived unpopularity of his choice had led to weeks of unrest and protest in the commercial city, which made the emir stay at the Government House until the unrest was calmed.
Sanusi would then quickly fall out with Kwankwaso’s successor and current governor of the state, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, leading to the splitting of the Kano emirates into five and Sanusi’s dethronement in 2020. While the ex-CBN governor was accused of being too critical of the state government’s policies, including the plan to secure a Chinese loan to build a light rail, his purported support for Abba Kabir Yusuf, who at the time, was the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the Kano State governorship election of 2019 against Ganduje, was seen as the final nail.
Since then, supporters of Yusuf’s NNPP have been indicating that their party would correct the “injustice” done to Sanusi as well as restore the over 1,000-year-old legacy of the Kano emirate whenever they take over the government.
Thus, while Yusuf was yet to indicate any desire to restore Sanusi to the throne and collapse the four new emirates back into the Kano emirate, the declaration by Kwankwaso, whose words are mostly seen as an order or a policy statement for the Kwankwasiyya Movement, gave the impression that the new government might have concluded the plans to review the dethronement and the balkanisation of the emirate.
The governor-elect was said to be with Kwankwaso when this interview was granted. Sanusi Bature, the Chief Press Secretary to the governor-elect, declined comment when pressed on whether or not his principal shares the same sentiment as that of the leader of their party.
