Kano: Restoration of Emirate and Emir

By Prof. Jibrin Ibrahim

Yesterday, Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf of Kano State announced the appointment of Alhaji Muhammad Sanusi II as the new Emir of Kano. He made the announcement after signing the new emirate council law at Government House. Former Governor Abdullahi Ganduje had dethroned Sanusi in 2020, following a personal rift. The State House of Assembly had on the same day passed a bill for the dissolution of the five emirates created by the immediate past administration of former governor Abdullahi Ganduje and the removal of all five emirs. Governor Yusuf signed the law after proposition from the Kingmakers of Kano Emirate. Warm congratulations to Muhammad Sanusi II, the 14th and 16th Emir of Kano. May God guide him and give him the wisdom to rule with fairness and justice.

The law, titled the Kano State Emirates Council (Amendment No.2) Law, 2024, scrapped the five emirates system and first-class emirs in Gaya, Rano, Karaye and Bichi and reverted the State to its position as the only one with a single emirate council, apart from Sokoto, which has only the Sultan as the paramount ruler superior to all emirs in the caliphate. There is excitement and contentment in the State because ssince 2019, Kano State has been destabilized, distressed and shocked following the orchestrated plot implemented by the erstwhile Administration of Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje to destroy a millennium of rich Kano tradition, history and legacy. The plot was rolled out and implemented without recourse to the good people of the State.

It was done with no regard to extant laws, Kano’s political heritage and unity and indeed the humanity of its people who have a history and rich cultural heritage they are proud of and have the right and duty to preserve for generations yet unborn. The clear response of the people of Kano to the threat against the Emirate was the victory of the opposition in the 2019 election, which was stolen in broad daylight by the contrived ‘inconclusive’ electoral outcome and the subsequent use of thugs and violence to rig the supplementary elections.