11th March, 2020
Former Governor of Kano State, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, has debunked the report credited to Kano state government over the dethronement of Muhammad Sanusi II as the Emir of Kano.
According to The Nation, Spokesman to the Kano governor Mr. Salihu Yakasai told a private radio station Rave FM in Osogbo, that Sanusi was queried four times by the administration of former governor Rabiu Kwankwaso.
Yakasai was also reported to have said Sanusi was not sacked for an allegation of corruption but on the grounds of disobeying the law.
“The position of Emir comes with its own restrictions which Sanusi didn’t take cognizance of. Sanusi did not grow up in Kano State. He does not understand the traditional institution that he was occupying.
“Sanusi always goes to the gallery to talk about issues to get the applause. At the tail end of the administration of former governor of Kano, Rabiu Kwankwaso reintroduced ban of street begging and that time Sanusi was accommodating the Alimajiris in his palace, feeding them and on that particular issue, he was given four queries for disobeying him,” The Nation quoted Salihu Yakasai.
However, Kwankwaso, under whose tenure Sanusi was installed as the Emir in 2014, said he never queried the dethroned emir.
“I never issued query to His Highness Emir Sanusi II or did anything that looks like that,” Kwankwaso told BBC Hausa Service on Wednesday morning.
“What I know is that, if you are Governor or President, you are supposed to know that, you are a leader, helper of the people, lover peace, not to use what you have like the security forces to muscle people like what we saw in Kano yesterday (Monday),” he added.
Kwankwaso also berated the Kano State government for denying the dethroned emir his right to choose where he wants to stay.
He said: “But, the big issue is that, as enshrined by section 35 of the Nigerian Constitution, even if you dethrone someone as Emir, you ought to allow him chose wherever he so pleases to stay, that is even when you follow due process to dethrone him.”