*He was wrongly dethroned – Youth
*Gov-elect will review his dethronement – Kwankwaso
By BASHIR ADEFAKA
If the words of Presidential Candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, is anything to go by, in matter of weeks, former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Alhaji Muhammadu Sanusi II deposed as Emir of Kano some two years back may return to throne.
The royal personality was dethronement and banished from Kano and away in Awe in 2020 before he got his freedom to settled wherever he chose to live by court ruling.
Senator Kwankwaso, who came in remarkably fourth in the February 25, 2023 Presidential Election in Nigeria after securing two Senate seats, 18 seats of the House of Representatives from across mainly Kano and Jigawa states and still went ahead to win for his candidates in the Kano State governorship and house of assembly elections of March 18, 2023, dropped the hint about return of the former Emir of Kano in a video on Saturday, now viral.
He said the incoming government of Abba Yusuf, the Governor-elect of Kano State, will review the dethronement of the 14th Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammadu Sanusi II.
Recall that Sanusi, who became Emir in the final term of Kwankwaso as governor, was dethroned by outgoing Governor Abdullahi Ganduje, who at that time was Deputy Governor.
Sanusi was removed precisely on March 9, 2020 and also banished from Kano and sent first to Loko, a remote community in Nasarawa State, while the expenses of the Emirate under him were probed.
Ganduje had also split the hitherto whole Kano State Emirate into five and appointed Emirs who were at par.
But, Kwankwao, who will now call the shot in the political Garrison Command of Kano State, according to the viral video, said the dethronement and balkanisation of the Kano Emirate would be reviewed by incoming Governor Yusuf.
He said, “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. Beside 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.”
The former governor, however, prayed for God’s intervention to enable the incoming governor administer affairs of the state.
Recent demand
The DEFENDER recalls that on March 21, a youth group in Kano State, the Kwankwasiya Youth Support Group, while congratulating the NNPP’s candidate and Governor-elect Abba Yusuf, had called on him to have a second look at the dethronement of Emir Muhammadu Sanusi ll by the APC led government of Abdullahi Umar Ganduje.
The group, in a message, had alleged that Sanusi, who now leads in Nigeria a very powerful Islamic group that has its spread spanning from Senegal and across West Africa, was wrongly dethroned and now, it said, is the time for justice to prevail.
Since the controversies and subsequent removal from the Kano Palace of the foremost economist and ex-CBN Governor, the old boy of King’s College Lagos had lived quietly in Nasarawa, Kaduna, Abuja and Lagos where he seldom commented on national issues, especially those that related to the global economy, fiscal policy, oil, and currency.
According to Palace sources, the incumbent Emir of Kano, Alhaji Aminu Bayero, was not only a cousin, inlaw and long-time ally of Sanusi but also, they were close confidants who were deeply concerned about the progress and continued survival of the legendary Abdullahi Bayero Royal lineage.
