By Emma Ogbuehi
Court orders police to evict Emir Bayero from palace: “That an order is hereby granted to the extent that the Commissioner of Police Kano State should immediately take over the palace of the Emir of Kano situate being and lying at State Road Kano and evict the 1 Defendant/Respondent from the said palace pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice dated 24th May, 2024.”
The judiciary is once again muddling the political cum traditional waters in the ancient city of Kano as a High Court in Kano, on Monday, directed the Commissioner of Police in the State to evict deposed Emir Aminu Ado Bayero from the mini palace in the Nasarawa area of the Kano metropolis.
The court also issued an interim injunction preventing the deposed Emir from parading himself as the Emir of Kano.
The orders were delivered by Justice Amina Adamu Aliyu of the High Court No. 7 on Miller Road, Kano.
The orders were sought by the State’s Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Speaker of Kano State House of Assembly, and the State House of Assembly in a suit against Alhaji Aminu Ado Bayero and the four other deposed Emirs including Alhaji Nasiru Ado Bayero, Dr. Ibrahim Abubakar II, Alhaji Kabiru Muhammad Inuwa, and Alhaji Aliyu Ibrahim Gaya.
The order reads: “That an order is hereby granted to the extent that the Commissioner of Police Kano State should immediately take over the palace of the Emir of Kano situate being and lying at State Road Kano and evict the 1 Defendant/Respondent from the said palace pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice dated 24th May, 2024.
“That an order of this Hon. Court is hereby granted restraining the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th & 5th Defendants from parading themselves as Emirs of Kano, Bichi, Gaya, Rano and Karaye in the interest of peace in Kano pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.
“That an order is hereby made that 1 – 5 Defendants be served through the office of the Commissioner Police, Kano State who is to ensure immediate implementation of the order of the Hon. Court in the interest of justice.”
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The court adjourned the hearing of the motion on notice to June 11, 2024.
TheNiche had earlier reported that after signing the Kano State Emirate Council Law 2024, which dissolved four new Emirates in the State and restored Kano Emirate to its pre-2019 status on Thursday, Governor Abba Yusuf issued a reappointment letter to Emir Muhammadu Sanusi II on Friday as the new Emir of Kano and ordered the emirs affected by the new law to vacate their palaces within 48 hours.
However, the State Police Command on Saturday vowed to enforce an interim order of the Federal High Court sitting in Kano, which is against Sanusi’s reinstatement.
Embattled Emir Bayero has remained in the Nasarawa mini palace with heavy presence of security personnel, while Emir Sanusi II is operating from the main palace secured by vigilantes and local hunters, a development that has put the commercial city on the edge since Saturday.
This court order is coming hours after the Kano State Government begged President Bola Tinubu to move the deposed 15th Emir of Kano, Aminu Ado Bayero, from the state.
The government stressed that Bayero’s presence in Kano poses a threat to the peace and stability cherished by its people.
The state Deputy Governor, Aminu Abdussalam, said this during a press conference on Monday.
Abdussalam also explained why the state government stood firm in their decision to reinstate and accompany Sanusi, the 16th Emir, as he ascended to his throne.
He added that the government was not served with a court order restraining or ordering all parties to maintain the status quo.
He said only one out of eight respondents named in court documents received such an order – specifically the Inspector General of Police, noting that the other respondents, including Kano State Government officials, were not served with any court orders.
Abdussalam said, “We are worried and shocked about marching orders from above to ensure the implementation of the court order.
“There have been talks around the court order (restraining or ex parte motion) given by a court. Whatever the circumstances around the order, we as a government have never seen or received any communication in that direction.
“There are eight respondents. Out of these eight respondents, only one, the Inspector General of Police, IGP, was served with the court order while the state police commissioner, DSS, and NSCDC were never served, likewise, the Kano State Government and Attorney General were not served until this moment. You cannot act on anything that you don’t know. And that is what informed all our actions till today and this moment.”
Abdussalam, however, accused certain individuals within the All Progressives Congress party of instigating sporadic protests against both the dissolution of the emirates and Sanusi’s reinstatement.
He said, “But the unfortunate thing is that it seems somewhere, somehow, some people up there, because the security chiefs told us point blank that they cannot flout directive from above.
“It means somebody above is directing this is what should happen. Somebody was directing the security men, police and DSS should escort the emir to Kano and directives were given that they also received him here and were kept at the Nassarawa palace and a few meters away from the Governor’s office and residence.
“And ever since politicians from the opposition who have been vocal and vehement about the repeal law and reinstatement of Sanusi were the people who are driving people around the deposed Emir, meeting there and conspiring to cause mayhem and chaos in the state to the extent that they came out to light bonfire, meters from the governor’s office and residence and got security cover. Ever since the process of repealing the law started, Kano was peaceful and people were jubilating only for us to start seeing negative developments.”
He added, “Petitions are being engineered today from the former emirates of Gaya, Rano and Bichi. The Emir of Gaya has already gone on air and stated it categorically clear that he has taken it in good fate and that he holds no grudges against anybody and appealed to his people to abide by the law.
“Today, there was a sponsored protest carried out in Gaya by APC thugs. Some people claiming to be stakeholders from Bichi wrote a letter and all of them were card-carrying members of APC in the emirate. So the whole thing is now turning into politics.”
Appealing to Tinubu, he said, “We appeal to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Office of the National Security Adviser and other agencies concerned to investigate the happenings in Kano as it relates to the deposed Emir, Aminu Ado Bayero, and take immediate steps to evacuate him from his current residence and remove him from in the state. As it is now, he is constituting a security threat in the state.
“A lot of efforts were put in place to reach out to the President on happenings around the chieftaincy matters.”
