The Kano State government has come up with explanation on the reason behind its dethronement of the reformist Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammadu Sanusi II Monday, an action that triggered spontaneous reactions on social media and among the Nigerian public.
The Secretary to the State Government, Usman Alhaji, announced the unanimous decision of the council at a news conference on Monday in Kano. He said the removal of the monarch followed alleged disrespect to lawful instructions by the state governor.
According to him, the persistent refusal of the Emir to attend official meetings and programmes organised by the government without any justification amounting to insubordination is part of what has informed his removal.
He said that it was on record that Malam Muhammadu Sanusi II had been found breaching Part 3 Section 13 (a-e) of the Kano State Emirate law 2019. He said if such attitude was left unchecked, it would destroy the good and established image of the Kano Emirate.
“This removal is made after due consultation with the relevant stakeholders and in compliance with Part 3 section 13 of the Kano State Emirate law 2019 and other reasons stated above.
“The removal was reached to safeguard the sanctity, culture, tradition, religion and prestige of the Kano Emirate built over a thousand years.
“His Excellency, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, has called on the general public to remain calm, law abiding and to go about their normal and lawful businesses, while a new emir of the Kano emirate would soon be appointed,” he said.
Meanwhile, the action by the Kano government was instantaneously followed by deluge of reactions as Nigerians took to the social media to have their say with many terming the ouster of the Emir by the Ganduje-administration as vindictive.
Some takes:
IJA ILARA KO TAN BORO, A NJUWON KO SE E WI LEJO… Nothing beclouds reasoning than envy! The last time SANUSI was booted out as Central Bank Governor, he soon became the Emir! Who knows where God is taking him next… God’s ways are mysterious… Allah Akbar! pic.twitter.com/bT79tVSPlt
— Dele Momodu Ovation (@DeleMomodu) March 9, 2020
Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, one of the few Northerners who speak up against child marriage, poverty, out of school children & drug addiction has been removed. After they tried to suppress his voice for many months. You wonder what manner of politics this is & to what end.
— Dr. Dípò Awójídé (@OgbeniDipo) March 9, 2020
The removal of Emir Sanusi represents the incompatibility of the crown and conscience, the consequences of dissent against established norms and the heavy price of holding principles in our https://t.co/Dg67VOHkHF also revealed the intolerance and toxicity of the liquor of power.
— Senator Shehu Sani (@ShehuSani) March 9, 2020
If not for the pitiful system of government we have, how would Ganduje be a governor in a state where someone like Emir Sanusi of CBN exists?
Princes on foot, slaves on horses. Who is Ganduje without political power? pic.twitter.com/89L555AnK5
— AyeMojubar 😷 (@ayemojubar) March 6, 2020
Now that the damage has already been done, the hypocrites we call northern elites are going to start speaking and reaching out to “mediate.” If the ruling class wanted to prevent this from happening, they would’ve kicked. Emir Sanusi’s dethronement serves their general interests.
— Gimba Kakanda (@gimbakakanda) March 9, 2020
Sanusi Lamido Sanusi has been dethroned. I feel no sympathy for him. This man was hired by Buhari & APC to spread untold lies that $20billion was missing under GEJ. Today this same Buhari, Ganduje and APC has dethroned him as Emir of Kano. Karma is a bitch. I laugh in GEJ 🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/zp8KImbDZg
— The Omonile Lawyer™ (@MatthewOttah) March 9, 2020
The dethronment will not in anyway Abate or Abridge the commitment of Sanusi Lamido Sunusi in telling the Government the truth. The truth is bitter, power is transient. Sanusi has been a man of Candor. We appreciate him for who he is. pic.twitter.com/IvAGCglwIU
— AZ (@Abubakar_YZ) March 9, 2020
Sanusi, who was the 14th emir of Kano under the Fulani dynasty, was appointed as the Emir of Kano on June 8, 2014.
He was born on July 31, 1961 in Kano to a ruling class Fulani family of the Sullubawa clan. He was educated at King’s College, Lagos, where he graduated in 1977.
He then proceeded to Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, where he received a bachelor’s degree in economics in 1981.
He later received a masters degree in economics two years later from the university and lectured at the faculty.
His father, Aminu Sanusi, was a career diplomat who served as the Nigerian Ambassador to Belgium, China and Canada.
His grandfather, Muhammadu Sanusi I, was the 11th Emir of Kano from 1953 until 1963, when he was deposed by his cousin Sir Ahmadu Bello.
On June 1, 2009, Sanusi was nominated as governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria by President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua; his appointment was confirmed by the Nigerian Senate on 3 June 2009.
Sanusi was selected to succeed his granduncle, Ado Bayero, as the Emir of Kano on June 8, 2014.
Since his emergence as Emir, he has vociferously kicked at some age-long practices in Northern Nigeria that promotes illiteracy, early marriage, poverty, fuelling insecurity and fundamentalism that has continued to rattle the Nigeria’s north.
However, some northern oligarchs oftentimes perceive Sanusi and his reformist’s views as a threat to the all-powerful traditional and religious institutions that enable them wield huge influence on subjects, ignoring the litany of socio-cultural problems that have plagued millions of people across the northern landscape of the country.
