Amid what he described as deliberate attempts by sections of the political class to undermine the authority of Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf through claims of contention over the Kano Emirship, public intellectual, Malam Ibrahim Ado Kurawa, has cautioned former Kano State Governor, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, over what he termed contradictory comments regarding his earlier recognition of Khalifa Muhammadu Sanusi II as Emir of Kano.
Kurawa, an erudite scholar of Northern cultural heritage, stated that Ganduje ought to understand that the substantive matter before the Supreme Court was instituted by a traditional titleholder who was removed through a law passed by the Kano State House of Assembly and assented to by the governor.
“The suit has nothing to do with who is or who is not the Emir. As a former governor, Ganduje should be above petty partisan bickering,” Kurawa said.
Ganduje had earlier recognised Khalifa Sanusi II as Emir of Kano during the inauguration of Murtala Sule Garo as Deputy Governor of Kano State at the Government House but later withdrew the acknowledgment.
The former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in a statement issued by his former Chief of Staff, Mohammad Garba, explained that his reference to Sanusi as Emir of Kano was merely a matter of courtesy and protocol and should not be misconstrued.
Ganduje further stated that only the Supreme Court could deliver the final verdict on the emirship tussle between Sanusi II and Aminu Ado Bayero, cautioning against comments capable of jeopardising the court’s judgment.
Reacting to the remarks in an interview with journalists, Kurawa, who was among those who challenged Ganduje’s balkanisation of the Kano Emirate Council in 2019—a move that led to the amendment of the chieftaincy laws—insisted that the matter before the apex court has nothing to do with the appointment of Sanusi II as Emir of Kano.
According to him, the substantive matter before the Supreme Court was instituted by a traditional titleholder who alleged that the government violated his fundamental rights through the repeal of the Emirate Council Law of 2020.
Kurawa stressed that nowhere in the suit was the appointment of Emir Sanusi challenged.
He also questioned what he described as Ganduje’s insincerity, asking why the former governor presented his nephew before Emir Sanusi II for coronation as the Village Head of Ganduje if he had not officially recognised him as emir.
“The issue before the Supreme Court has nothing to do with who is the Emir of Kano or who is not, as the lawyers representing both Baba Dan Agundi and the government rightly stated after the Supreme Court hearing last week. So, it is not Ganduje who will tell us that the Supreme Court has the final say.
“Secondly, when Governor Ganduje enacted the Emirate Law 2019, we went to court. I was among those who instituted the case alongside the late Alhaji Bashir Tofa and 18 others. We challenged the law because of procedural irregularities, and a member of the State Assembly also challenged it.
“The State High Court nullified the law because of those errors, but Ganduje did not remove the emirs because he claimed they were appointed under the law. He simply returned to the State Assembly and re-presented the bill in the proper manner.
“Now that Governor Yusuf submitted a bill seeking the repeal of the emirate laws, which was subsequently passed into law, that law itself was not challenged, whether it was properly done or not. Instead, somebody went to court alleging a violation of his fundamental rights, which is not sufficient grounds for the court to remove Sanusi.
“The case is not about Sanusi or Aminu, or who is the Emir of Kano and who is not. The case concerns Dan Agundi’s fundamental rights and the issue of jurisdiction of the Federal High Court, as attested to by the lawyers of the parties,” Kurawa argued.
