Emir Sanusi Returns To Palace After Reinstatement

The Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, has returned to the Kano Emir’s Palace in the wee hours of Saturday.

On Thursday, the state governor, Abba Yusuf, assented to the Kano State Emirates Council (Amendment Number 2) Law, 2024.

The amended law abolished the establishment of the five emirate councils of Kano, Bichi, Rano, Karaye and Gaya in the state.

The governor signed the bill into law in the presence of the deputy governor, Aminu Abdulsalam, Speaker, Isma’il Falgore, the SSG, Abdullahi Bichi.

Speaking after the signing, the governor announced the reinstatement of Emir Sanusi ll, who was deposed by former governor, Abdullahi Ganduje in 2020.

The move led to his reinstatement four years after the immediate past governor of the North-West state Abdullahi Ganduje deposed him.

At an event to receive the appointment letter from Governor Yusuf, Emir Sanusi said his reinstatement was divine.

“The Arabians used to say that in everything we witness, there is a lesson that shows us that God is there. Whatever happens to an individual is preordained by Allah, and for those who are sensible enough, it’s a lesson. God is one, and whatever He does, nobody can change, and what He doesn’t do, nobody can,” he said at the Government House in Kano on Friday just after he got the letter.

“About 10 years ago, in this same place, former Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso gave me my appointment letter as the Emir of Kano. Today, after 10 years, I am here again receiving a reappointment letter from Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf.

“Time will not permit long talks. Whatever we needed to say, we said when we were leaving. We made it clear that God has preordained the time and cause for everything and everyone. He gives leadership to whom He wants and at the time He wants. When He gives, no one can take it away, and when He takes it away, nobody can bring it back.”

The Emir Muhammadu Sanusi II first appeared at the palace as he takes his seat on the throne.

However, against tradition, the ousted Emir Aminu Ado Bayero remains at a smaller palace in the Nasarawa area.

Here is a timeline of the good, the bad and the ugly:

June 1, 2009: Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, then Chief Executive Officer of First Bank, is nominated as Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria by President Umaru Yar’Adua. His appointment is confirmed by the Senate some 48 hours later.

February 2, 2014: President Goodluck Jonathan fires Sanusi for alleging a controversial non-remittance of a $20 billion statutory fund into the federal government’s accounts by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC), a claim the then administration refuted.

June 8, 2014: Kano State Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso appoints Sanusi to succeed his granduncle, Ado Bayero, as the Emir of Kano.

June 9, 2014: Sanusi is crowned the 14th Emir of Kano.

December 2016: Sanusi speaks about the government’s misplaced priorities.

April 24, 2017: Sanusi speaks at the Mo Ibrahim governance weekend in Morocco about the northern governors’ poor attitude towards education. His comments are perceived as a direct attack on Ganduje.

May 2017: The Kano Emirate Council comes under investigation for financial irregularities.

June 6, 2019: The Ganduje administration queries Sanusi for allegedly misappropriating N3.4 billion, an allegation the former bank chief denied.

December 2019: Ganduje assents to a bill passed by the Kano House of Assembly splitting the Kano Emirate Council into five emirates, whittling down the influence of Sanusi.

March 9, 2020: The Ganduje administration dethrones Sanusi for ‘disrespecting lawful instructions’. Sanusi is banished to Loko Local Government Area of Nasarawa State.

March 9, 2020: Aminu Ado Bayero is appointed Emir of Kano.

February 2023: Kwankwaso’s political godson Abba Yusuf of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) wins the governorship election in Kano, defeating Ganduje’s man, Nasir Gawuna.

April 2023: Kwankwaso says Yusuf will review Sanusi’s dethronement.

May 22, 2024: A proposed amendment to the Kano Emirate Council Laws scales its first reading on the Kano State House of Assembly floor.

May 23, 2024: The state assembly passes the bill dissolving the emirates created by Ganduje.

May 23, 2024: Governor Yusuf signs the bill into law and reinstates Sanusi as Kano Emir under one big emirate.