Kwankwaso Plots Ex-Emir Muhammadu Sanusi’s Comeback As Kano Plans To Scrap New Emirate Councils

There are indications that the deposed Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi ll may be returned to the throne after the planned dissolution of the Kano Emirate Council, THE WHISTLER has learnt.

Muhammadu Sanusi was dethroned in March 2020 for alleged insubordination to lawful authorities, three months after then governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Ganduje, signed the bill creating 4 additional emirates for the state.

The new emirates of Gaya, Rano, Karaye and Bichi were created with First-Class emirs to give the state five emirates, including the Kano Emirate which was then headed by Muhammadu Sanusi.

Muhammadu Sanusi was selected to succeed his granduncle, Ado Bayero, on 8 June 2014, during the administration of his friend Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso. It was a controversial enthronement that some saw as a politically motivated move to avoid corruption charges from his tenure at the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Now, it appears Kwankwaso is bent on bringing back his friend to the throne following the victory of his party, the New Nigerian Peoples Party, at the Supreme Court which gave a final verdict on the state’s governorship election.

Kwankwaso, who had previously said the government of Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf would review the dethronement and balkanisation of the emirate, insisted last Thursday while speaking to some select Journalists that the issue will be revisited.

Sources close to the governor of Kano confirmed to THE WHISTLER on Wednesday that the government is planning to scrap the 4 new emirate councils to make way for the reinstatement of Muhammadu Sanusi as emir.

“I can confirm to you that the emirates will be dissolved,” said one of the influential members of the NNPP. “But I cannot tell you whether Muhammadu Sanusi will be returned to the throne. That is something that has not yet been agreed.”

This was corroborated by another source who also said the state government will return to the old Kano emirate with only one Emir.

Although the source confirmed moves for the reinstatement of Muhammadu Sanusi, he said the current Emir of Kano, Aminu Ado Bayero, will be difficult to remove because he is loved by the people just like his father the late Emir Ado Bayero headed by Ado Bayero.

He said the state government was unlikely to sack the Kano emirate headed by Emir Ado Bayero, to avoid any potential crisis.

“The kingmakers love him and the Kano elites love him, and he’s also Muhammadu Sanusi’s nephew” he said, adding that Kwankwaso will be aware of the implications of dethroning a popular emir who’s also the son of a highly revered deceased emir.

Kwankwaso all but confirmed the possible sacking of the four emirs of the new emirates last Thursday when he said:“Honestly it (the Kano Emirates issue) is one of the things that nobody has sat with me to discuss so far but I am sure we are going to sit and see how to go about it. Is it going to be allowed, demolished, corrected, or whatever? It will be revisited, and what’s supposed to be done will be done.

“There were a lot of things and this was a trap. All these things were not done in good faith or intention. It was brought with some bad intentions which every one of you here and our listeners are aware of.

“Sometimes you come with things that are good and they turn out to be bad while sometimes you bring bad things and they turn out to be good. So, all I know is that I was not consulted as of now but definitely, we will come to discuss and see what should be done.”

After the dethronement of Muhammadu Sanusi as emir in 2020, Kwankwaso had claimed that he was illegally deposed.

He said then Governor Ganduje always felt “diminished and inferior” in the presence of the Emir, stressing that Ganduje harboured “a pathological hatred for the Kano Traditional Institution.”