Rumbles of War in Kano As Kwankwaso Plans To Revisit Ganduje’s Emirate Reform By Musa Gajere

The battle for supremacy in Kano State may take a turn for the worse if the incoming administration of

Kano Governor-elect, Abba Kabir Yusuf (Abba Gida Gida) goes ahead to revisit the decisions made by the outgoing Governor Abdullahi Ganduje on the Kano Emirate, including the dethronement of Sanusi Lamido Sanusi as Emir of Kano.

These fears heightened last week when the national leader of the incoming NNPP administration, former Governor and Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso said his party will Revisit Sanusi’s Dethronement. Already, Governor Ganduje has warned of the dangers and eminent citizens are advising incoming Governor Yusuf to be wise about the decisions he will make given the tenuous nature of Kano politics.

According to Kwankwaso, “We have campaigned and as you know we are popular in Nigeria, especially in Kano State, we are now back and God willing we will continue with the good works our administration left. This incoming governor and his team will take them up. “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 were given this opportunity will sit down and see to 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, bad, and issues that are hard to reconcile.”

While Kwankwaso, who was the governor who enthroned Sanusi as the 14th Emir of Kano in 2014, did not expressly state that his party will return the deposed Emir to the throne, the body language of the NNPP since it won the elections in Kano State has Ben anything but triumphal and vengeful. Recall that over a month ago after he was declared winner of the governorship, Abba Yusuf had issued warnings to civil servants and contractors not to honour instructions from the incumbent Governor. Ganduje had to warn that he was still on seat and there was no room for two governors at the same time. Now, analysts see the Kwankwaso, who felt bruised by what he called Ganduje’s betrayal, having supported him for the governorship in 2015, seeing an opportunity to have his pound of flesh by erasing the outgoing governor’s legacies, one of which is the Emirate Council Law of 2019, which broke the Emirate into four kingdoms and which was applied to remove Sanusi. The problem is how the NNPP administration will go about the whole reversal without causing civil unrest in Kano, one of Nigeria’s biggest states.

Mallam Isa Danlami who is a political commentator says the NNPP is living in ignorance if it thinks that it can come and reverse the decisions made by Ganduje on the Kano Emirate system. He observes that the decision to create four kingdoms out of the Kano Emirate was a popular one which was not opposed by the people. “Only Emir Sanusi Lamido opposed it because of his selfish interest. Now these Emirates have come to stay.”

Sanusi was turbaned as Emir of Kano on June 9, 2014, and removed on March 9, 2020, under allegations of insubordination and mismanagement of the Emirates finances. The former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria faced much problems when he started criticising the state government and the ruling APC party which helped him to the throne, angering Governor Ganduje in the process. The governor eventually took him out in 2020.

On why he removed the Emir Ganduje said it was to save the traditional institution from abuse. Ganduje went the extra mile to justify Sanusi’s removal as CBN Governor by President Jonathan when he accused the administration of fraud, calling the move “a bold step.” As Ganduje put it: “When Sanusi said $49 billion was lost in Jonathan’s government, I said in my mind that no, you could have discussed it with him (Jonathan) privately.“You could have given him this clue and then he would know how to investigate even before those who had stolen the money would find a way of hiding the money. That statement, I said in my mind, was not honourable. That statement created bad blood.’ Ganduje who was Deputy Governor of Kano State at the time Sanusi was appointed Emir even rubbed it in to say that “Sanusi was appointed Emir of Kano not because he was the best man for the throne but to retaliate what Jonathan did to him.”

While that may be regarded as sour grapes, the fact remain that Sanusi was not a popular choice for Emir such that when he was picked there were riots in parts of Kano and when he was removed there were celebrations. It is this conundrum that makes watchers say that the NNPP will be taking a big risk that could cost it politically if it decides to go against the will of the people.

The party may be basking in the euphoria of its trouncing of the APC in the state and even in the emir’s palace to mean a mandate to reverse some of the decisions taken on the kingship. For instance, at the last Presidential election on February 25, the Presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, won the polling unit of the Emir of Kano with 99 votes to the APC’s 39 votes, the PDP’s 32 votes, Labour Party’s, one vote and APGA’s two votes. But, pundits warn that the dislike for Ganduje and the APC may not translate into a dislike for the decisions made. The current Emir, Aminu Ado Bayero,the son of the Emir before Sanusi is an extremely popular royal in Kano.

When his father died and a new Emir was to be selected, the people expected that it would be Aminu, but Kwankwaso chose Sanusi. What followed were riots for days. The military and police were drafted in to stabilise the city before Emir Sanusi could take his throne.

When he was dethroned, Kwankwaso was one of those who attacked Ganduje. In a press statement by his he said the governor dethroned Sanusi for his “inferiority complex against him, nothing more.” He added that: “We know that Ganduje always feels diminished and inferior in the presence of the Emir, and we know that Gov Ganduje harbours a pathological hatred for the Kano Traditional Institution, that was why he had to dethrone him.

“We also know that Ganduje was madly obsessed with reversing everything that Sen. Kwankwaso did in the state. And we are aware, for these reasons, Gov. Ganduje was set, ab initio, to destroy the Kano Emirate. And Emir Sanusi II was marked to be the first victim.

“Let me also put on record that Emir Sanusi II was abducted and illegally dethroned by Gov. Ganduje and his cohorts because of the Emir’s progressive ideas on various issues that affect the people of the State.”

“It is common knowledge that the Emir was too progressive for Gov. Ganduje’s liking and that was exactly why after his illegal removal and the dismemberment of the Kano Emirate Council, he appointed Emirs that will not question his ill-advised decisions even if they are against the interest of the state and its people.”

However, even if Ganduje had a complex and had corruption issues, the voices on the street seemed to agree with him on the emir’s removal.

As reports captured it when he was removed, the people celebrated and not one voice or protest was made in support of Emir Sanusi. The Governor said last week at the May Day Celebration that the four Emirates created by his administration had come to stay and no one can change it because it was the will of the people and stakeholders who were consulted.