There is uneasy calm in Kano as a Federal High Court presided by Justice Muhammad Liman is set to deliver ruling on the repealed Kano Emirate Law after establishing that it has jurisdiction to entertain cases bordering on the fundamental human rights of Aminu Babba DanAgundi, the Sarkin Dawaki Babba, who challenged the amendment of the Law by the state assembly as a violation of his basic human right.
Respondents in the case include the Kano State government, state house of assembly, speaker of the state assembly, attorney general and commissioner for justice, commissioner of police, inspector-general of police, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps and the Directorate of State Security (DSS).
In an earlier sitting, the federal high court had listened to both parties in the case and had set June 20, 2024 as the date for ruling in the case filed by DanAgundi, the complainant in the case.
The issue is that the court continued hearing the case even as the state government announced its intention to appeal the court’s ruling on the issue of jurisdiction.
The Kano State governor, Abba Yusuf, had enthroned Muhammadu Sanusi II, the 14th Emir of Kano, as the new Emir after amending the Emirate Law and abolishing the five emirates, returning the state to one emirate.
The 15th Emir of Kano, Aminu Ado Bayero, who was the Emir at the time of the amendment of the law, was dethroned, and he challenged the action of the state governor.
The two royals have support from two rival political camps: ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) at the national level, and the ruling New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) at the state.
Bayero is protected by security agents, including the army, police, and DSS, as he stays in the mini palace located at Nasarawa, just few metres away from Government House.
On the other hand, the state governor, Yusuf, and his supporters spent the night at the Emir’s palace in the ancient city to protect the newly enthroned Sanusi II from being removed from the palace when he was announced as the Emir after the laws were amended.
Since then, the palace has been thrown open to the public, who are supporters of the governor, to troop in.
Several cases are before federal and state high courts around the emirship tussle, including, among others, the case on violating the fundamental rights of Bayero, in which a federal high court ruled that he be paid N10 million as damages.
This resulted from the order given to the state police to arrest him for illegally occupying the palace at Nasarawa, which led to his house arrest.
The federal high court is today going to decide whether the new Emirate Law will be implemented.
Meanwhile, the state attorney general and commissioner for justice, Barrister Haruna Isah Dederi, at a press conference last week, alleged that some people were desperately scheming to unjustly penalise the people of Kano for keeping to the tradition of radical politics of voting with their conscience, especially with the unfolding event of the repeal of the 2019 Emirates Law and subsequent litigation that ensued.
“You are aware that the Federal High Court No. 3, Kano, had passed judgment in respect of the matter before it where it held that certain fundamental rights of the deposed emir were infringed upon, including putting him under house arrest. We are mindful that whatever judgement is pronounced by a court of law; any party dissatisfied has the option of appealing against the judgement.
“Indeed, our team of lawyers is critically studying the judgement of that court to appeal against it. This is because, in our view, no fundamental right of the former emir was infringed. First, no one forced him into Gidan Nassarawa, belonging to the government of Kano State. He went in there and stayed there of his own volition, accompanied by security guards.
“Therefore, no one put him under house arrest.
“Secondly, it is known by everyone that His Excellency, the Executive Governor of the State, is the Chief Security Officer of the State. He has the constitutional duty to protect the lives and properties of the people of Kano State. When the former emir came in accompanied by hoodlums, clearly threatening the peace and orderliness of the State, the Governor was under a duty to act to ensure peace, and that was why he issued the arrest order. Even then, the arrest was never effected by any of the security Agencies in the State. Till now, the former Emir has been conducting his activities there, as evidenced by the numerous social media presentations.
“That is why the Kano State Government disagreed with the judgement of the Federal High Court that alleged that the deposed emir was kept under house arrest; let it be made categorically clear that the deposed emir is staying at the dead emir’s cemetery of his own volition and against the instruction of the State Government. Any claim of breach of the fundamental human rights of the deposed emir cannot be made against Kano State. Let it be emphasised that the deposed emir is not the first emir to be deposed in the history of Northern traditional institutions,” he said.
Opposition Party Demands Former Governor’s Arrest
Meanwhile, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has called on the Nigerian security agencies to arrest and investigate Dr. Rabiu Kwankwaso over his claims that the federal government is breeding Boko Haram insurgency in Kano.
Addressing newsmen, Abdullahi Abbas, the state’s chairman of the APC, called on the security agencies to interrogate Kwankwaso so as to identify those involved in planning to destabilize the state.
Kwankwaso, the 2023 presidential candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) and also the leader of the Kwankwasiyya Movement in Kano, had alleged recently that the Bola Tinubu administration was breeding Boko Haram terrorists in Kano. This allegation followed the deployment of security agents to protect the 15th Emir of Kano, Aminu Bayero at his Nasarawa Palace in the metropolis.
“We wish to call on Nigeria’s security agents to arrest and investigate this man to reveal the identity of the people he referred to as enemies of the state working for the federal government to breed Boko Haram terrorists and insurgents,” the APC chairman stated.
Kwankwaso made the allegation on Monday during a flag-off ceremony for the construction of the 85-kilometre rural roads in his hometown, Madobi.
The APC chairman condemned Kwankwaso’s claims while expressing the likelihood that the former governor knew of a sinister plan to cause unrest in the state.
Don’t Throw Kano Into Anarchy, NNPP Fires Back
Also yesterday, the NNPP called on eminent Nigerians to dissuade the APC from setting Kano State, and by extension, the entire Northern part of the country, on fire through its desperation to snatch the state away.
NNPP said through its national secretary, Ladipo Johnson, that since the party trounced the APC in Kano State in the 2023 general election, the APC has been using every foul means to come back to power in Kano even though the people of Kano State rejected it at the polls.
Johnson said, “Their attempt to use the courts to snatch victory was truncated by the seven wise men at the Supreme Court who upheld the sanctity of the ballot boxes as expressed by the good people of Kano State.
“Ever since the great loss at the Supreme Court, the APC has never hidden its vow to make Kano State ungovernable for the rightful winner of the March 18, 2023 governorship election, Engr. Abba Kabir Yusuf,” Johnson said, adding that the recent amendment of the Kano State Emirate Council law which passed normal rudiments of Constitutional provisions had become a tool for APC to want to set the state on fire, using a section of the judiciary.
