By Ishaya Ibrahim
The plan by the Kano State government to split the state into four emirates has irked some residents who say they would resist the move.
On May 2, the Speaker of the Kano State House of Assembly read a letter during plenary from one Ibrahim Salisu, who is believed to be a front for Governor Ganduje, asking the lawmakers to approve four more emirates in Karaye, Bichi, Rano and Gaya.
Principal officers at the Emir’s palace, including the accountant, Mohammad Sani Kwaru, the Emir of Kano Chief of Staff, Mannir Sanusi have been summoned by the Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-corruption Commission to explain expenditure in the palace between 2013 and 2017.
“The Kano emirate is bigger than Ganduje and his political ambition and even bigger than Emir Sanusi as an individual. Dividing the Kano emirate is less a revenge on Emir Sanusi than it is a collective insult on Kano’s history, tradition and heritage,” a Kano resident, Ahmad Musa Hussain said.
A Kano broadcaster, Abbas Yushau warned that the move to elevate four local chiefs to the rank of Emirs would be resisted by the Kano people.
“Ganduje is playing a dirty game. This cannot stand. Kano does not belong to him. He must be made to be aware of that fact,” he said.
This is the second time the expenditure of the Kano State Emirate is being looked into by the Kano State government. They did that in 2017, alleging that the Emirate misappropriated unapproved N6 billion. The probe was halted after the intervention of some influential Nigerians.
This second probe is borne out of the fact that Sanusi is believed to have opposed the re-election of Ganduje, who narrowly won a supplementary that is now the subject of litigation.
Sanusi II was appointed the 14th emir in 2014 after his suspension from office as governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) by former president Goodluck Jonathan.
Sanusi II is the grandson of Muhammadu Sanusi I, the 11th emir of Kano who was deposed in 1963 after a disagreement with Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto and premier of the northern region at the time.
