Many see the choice of Dan Majen Kano as the new Emir of Kano as a masterstroke from the state governor, Engr Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, in his ongoing political battle with President Goodluck Jonathan.
With Sanusi Lamido Sanusi as the new Emir of Kano, the door is shut hard on the President in the state. It’s a case of where do you go in Kano now.
When the President Jonathan visited Kano in April, he was received at the airport by the Kano State deputy governor Umar Ganduje, while the governor was said to be having a party meeting at Government House.
The president, who was visiting the late Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero, left after a brief meeting with the late monarch.
Kwankwaso himself has thrown heavy punches at the president, the most recent was when he said, ‘I regret voting Jonathan,’ and ‘Jonathan should explain where the missing $20bn went’. There has been no love lost between Kano governor and the president since 2011.
Sanusi’s suspension as the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) was seen by many as nothing but a fight-back by the powerful forces of corruption in Nigeria, after he blew the whistle on the unremitted $20bn at the state oil corporation, the NNPC. He was suspended and he contested his removal in court, a matter that is ongoing. His tenure, however, elapsed last week and a new CBN governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, mounted the apex bank’s saddle.
* New Emir of Kano, Lamido Sanusi
According to the federal government, Lamido Sanusi was suspended following a petition written against him bordering on allegations of financial recklessness by the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRCN).
Sanusi, in a lengthy communique he issued in response, refuted the allegations brought against him, saying that the presidency was only out to dent his hard-earned reputation.
Some weeks back, Nigeria’s intelligence agency, the Department of State Services, blocked Sanusi, from boarding a Turkish airline flight for a planned trip to Saudi Arabia for lesser hajj. Operatives of the DSS based at the Aminu Kano International Airport also seized his passport and told him they would not allow him to travel abroad.
The DSS officials were shown the certified true copies of the court order which barred them from harassing or arresting him, but the officers stood their ground. They said they had no choice in the matter and that they were only acting on instruction from above – that they should not allow the Sanusi to travel outside the country.
Therefore, when the choice of the new emir came to Kwankwaso as the man with the final say, among the Chiroman Kano Sanusi Ado Bayero, Wamban Kano Alhaji Abbas Sanusi and the Dan Maje Lamido Sanusi, many regarded it as an easy one for the governor.
“The governor will close his eyes and pick Sanusi Lamido Sanusi; after all, the enemy of my enemy is my friend”, a source close to the governor told LEADERSHIP last night.
“Where will the president go now in Kano. Will he now come to Kano and bow to a man he suspended from his job for doing the right thing? And what will happen to all the court cases against him? You can’t drag the Emir of Kano to court”, the source said with finality.
Sanusi’s nomination as the new Emir of Kano signals the beginning of a new dawn in the history of the emirates. Whether or not, the federal government will bow to the new Eemir is a question on the lips of many across the country.
A source who pleaded anonymity also said that with the appointment of Dan Maje as the new emir, former Governor Ibrahim Shekarau may be removed from his title as Sardaunan Kano, especially with his recent romance with President Jonathan.
And Aminu Babba Dan’Agundi, who is a good ally of Governor Kwankwaso may be reinstated to his position of Sarkin Dawaki Maituta after he was removed by the late emir in 2003, a title he occupied since 1990.
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