Real Reason Why Former Emir of Kano Was Dethroned

Former Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II the ex-Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, is well grounded economically. He could not keep talking in criticising the economic policies of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration. With inept economic policy of Buhari’s government, Sanusi was very outspoken from the throne; thus, his actions may have offended the powers that be at the state and maybe Federal level.

He criticised the Buhari’s government’s foreign exchange climate in 2016 as unrealistic and came back again to bash the government for seeking $30 billion loan, among several others. So, at the centre, he was regarded as a fiend, which was why Buhari refused to get involve in the crisis between him and Ganduje.

Buhari had said when a delegation from Kano visited him in Abuja recently that, “I know my role as the President of Nigeria. By the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Governor of Kano State has his own roles. Once a matter is in the hands of the House of Assembly (like in Kano), the President has no constitutional right to interfere. I am here by the Constitution, I swore by it and I am going to stand by it.”

The straw that broke the camel’s back was in the build up to the 2019 governorship election. Sanusi ostensibly pitched tent with the opposing People’s Democratic Party, PDP, in a bid to wrest power out of Ganduje’s hand. Ganduje, the All Progressives Congress,’ APC, candidate, seeking a second term nearly lost the election. In fact, many political analysts believed that he lost the election. The PDP’s governorship candidate, Abba Yusuf was leading Ganduje with over 26,000 votes when it was declared inconclusive. The re-run election was controversially won by Ganduje. Sanusi was fingered in the near debacle of the governor.

With the election over, Ganduje decided to whittle the power of the emir by creating additional five emirates in Kano, With the House of Assembly behind him, a legislation was hurriedly passed splitting the emirates into five.

The next move by the governor was to institute a probe on Sanusi through the Kano State Public Complaint and Anti-Corruption Commission, who ordered him to appear to defend himself. According to the Chairman of the Commission, Barr. Muhuyi Rimingado, the investigations are not related to any other probe of the Emir.

He said: “Preliminary findings suggest that a company, Country Wide House Ltd. served as a corporate vehicle to allegedly launder the sum of over N2bn being proceeds of several hectares of land in Darmanawa phase I and II and Bubbugaji, under the former right of occupancy CON-RESS 2016-503 illegally sold to Messer family home fund limited at the alleged instance of His Highness the Emir of Kano.”

Rimingado also claimed that “Investigation further revealed that some of the proceeds of the sales remitted to the Emirate Council’s bank account can be traced to the companies of interest to His Highness.” It was this probe that finally consumed Sanusi.