Four reasons Sanusi II was removed as Emir of Kano

The Kano State Executive Council, under the Chairmanship of the Governor of Kano State, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, on Monday, approved the immediate removal of the Emir of Kano Emirate, Muhammad Sanusi II.

The Executive Council is made up of the governor, the deputy governor, commissioners, and other selected appointees of the governor.

Usman Alhaji, the Secretary to the Kano State Government, in a statement circulated to journalists, gave reasons for the action of the government.

We have highlighted here four reasons the emir was deposed:

1. Disrespectful: The Kano State Executive Council accused Sanusi II of being disrespectful. In the letter announcing his removal, the state government said: “The Emir of Kano is in total disrespect to lawful instructions from the office of the State Governor and other lawful authorities.”

2. Insubordination: According to the Kano State Government, Sanusi was not attending official meetings and programmes organised by the Government “without any lawful justification which amount to total insubordination.”

3. Sanusi is also accused of breaching the law. “It is on record and in so many instances, Malam Muhammad Sanusi II has been found breaching part 3 section 13 (a-e) of the Kano State Emirate Law 2019 and which if left unchecked will destroy the good and established image of the Kano Emirate.”

The Kano emirate law that Alhaji referenced is the one which created four new first class emirs in Kano State. Before then, the emir of Kano was the only first-class emir in the state.

4. He was accused of having no regard for culture and religion of the people. “This removal was reached in order to safeguard the sanctity, culture, tradition, religion and prestige of the Kano Emirate built over thousand years”, according to the state government.

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 Fulani family of the Sullubawa clan.

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.

Sanusi II has been having a running battle with Ganduje over difference in their political alignment and many see Ganduje’s action as his way of getting at Sanusi who is believed to have worked against the governor’s re-election last year.