By Osi Musa
For the people of the Kano Emirate council and supporters of the Emir of Kano, Mallam Muhammadu Sanusi ll, it was a big relief when the State House of Assembly announced that it was suspending indefinitely the planned probe of the first class traditional ruler. If you describe the decision as an anniversary gift to the Emir, you may not be wrong. The state is marking the golden anniversary of its creation as well as second year of the Ganduje administration and the Emir has a prominent role to play in the two celebrations.
Many believe that the Emir ran into trouble with his outspokenness and frankness on the state of the nation, particularly the north. Others accuse him of talking recklessly about the administration in the state and country when he has the express opportunity to table his opinion before those concerned. For this, he had come under heavy attack particularly from many northern elites who felt that he has spoken too much about the high rate of poverty in the north. Part of his problem began when he spoke in Kaduna on the state of poverty in the region, concluding that the north has the highest poverty rate in the world. He has also spoken out against some perceived Islamic teachings which he believed were being misinterpreted as well as governance both at the state and federal levels. However, there is the saying that those who come to equity must come with clean hands. Many believe that if the north is poor, the Emir contributed and is still contributing to the poverty level.
Constitutionally, traditional rulers in the country are entitled to between five and ten percent of all resources accruing to the local government councils under their jurisdiction. In other words, there is a huge resource available to the Emir since Kano has 44 local government areas drawing allocation from the federations account and also benefiting from internally generated revenue from the state. From this money, they are supposed to pay the various district heads and administer the Emirate. Interestingly, no traditional ruler in the country has ever been called upon to give account of how these money is spent.This explained why many believe that the planned probe of the Emir was as a result of his criticism of the government and the poverty level in the north.
However, while many others, including beneficiaries of the Emir’s generosity and his associates preferred to stay away from the issue, one man stood on the side of the Emir and cautioned against bringing the highly revered traditional institution into disrepute by going ahead with the probe. Comrade Timi Frank, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who himself ran into troubled waters with the leadership of the party for his outspokenness believed that no matter the Emir may have done, his probe will have negative impact on the traditional institution across the country as it will set a bad example for others. He spoke of the need for the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar who is the leader of the traditional institution in the north as well as other traditional rulers in the country as well as the Northern Governors Forum to step into the probe and stop the matter from degenerating into the unexpected. What many did not remember however is the fact that similar intervention during the Second Republic by the then Abubakar Rimi government did it go down well with the people of Kano who felt that the government was trying to ridicule them and their leaders. The reaction then is better imagined. To avoid such a reoccurrence, Frank also appealed to the state governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje to use his fatherly influence and stop the house from going ahead with the exercise by handling the entire issue with utmost care. He also appealed to the governor and other top government functionaries in the state not to promote any move that will lead to the dethronement of the Emir, saying such could become a bad precedence against traditional institutions in the state and the country at large, asking the governor to overlook some of the perceived excesses of the Emir who he described as a kind of “new generation Emir.” He said: “I will call on our traditional fathers to quickly intervene now before this controversy between the state government and the Kano Emirate degenerate into the unexpected. While I want to make a passionate appeal to our dear Governor Ganduje and the state lawmakers not to exercise their full strength against whatever perceived wrong doings by Malam Sanusi led Emirate in Kano, I believe like other opinion leaders have said that there should be a way to amicably settle the differences.” He told the state lawmakers and the governor not to forget so soon how Sanusi spoke out the truth during the past administration which later garnered substantial support for the enthronement of APC government in the country.
Few days after Frank’s appeal reprieve came the way of the Emir when the lawmakers suspended the investigations indefinitely on the request of Governor, whose intervention many believe will go a long way in enhancing the relationship between the government and the traditional institution on one hand and enhance rapid development of the state. By his action, the governor may have inadvertently saved a lot of lives of his people that could have been affected directly or indirectly by deposition or suspension of Sanusi as Emir as a result of the outcome of the probe. Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Alhaji Kabiru Alhassan Rurum, who announced the decision of the house also disclosed that prominent Nigerians concluding Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo appealed to the house to suspend the investigation of the emir. According to him, two former Nigerian leaders, Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida and Abdulsalami Abubakar as well as Senate President Bukola Saraki, Speaker House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, business mogul, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, Alhaji Aminu Dantata and national leaders of the ruling APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu also intervened and put a word for the Emir. The Speaker was quoted as saying as saying that wrote to the house appealing to them to suspend the probe indefinitely. He said: “Governor Ganduje has explained everything to us and we are convinced that the emir deserved to be forgiven since he has accepted his mistakes and promised not to repeat them again. The governor told the house in the letter that based on the personal remorse by the emir and intervention of various personalities he is pleading with us to stop the investigation. It is based on this that we have succumbed to his request and completely stopped our investigation. We stopped the investigation not because we don’t have the mandate to do it, but because we also want peace and harmony to continue in our dear state. Because we want the government, the emirate council and the house to continue to work peacefully”.
It was reported that 34 of the 40 member assembly who were at the sitting where the decision was taken to suspend the probe voted in favour of the motion, bringing to an end, weeks of uncertainty for the emir. However, the assembly has decided to amend the Kano Emirate Council law to make it conform with modern realities. Some of the laws were made about 40 years ago. The speaker said a committee has been set up headed by the Majority Leader of the house. Yusuf Abdullahi Ata and is expected to submit its report within three months. Further investigations revealed that apart from his public comments, the Emir was being investigated in an eight count charge which include the accusation against Governor Ganduje and the state legislators of mismanaging the resources of the state while on a trip to China; his remarks on the proposed Kano light rail project and an alleged intentional attack on President Muhammadu Buhari. Others were embezzlement of funds belonging to the emirate, tarnishing the image of the emirate by assigning his daughter to represent him at a public function, introducing strange religious issues and involvement in politics.
But his probe was not limited to the legislators alone as state Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission was also investigating the Emir for alleged embezzlement of over N6bn Kano Emirate Council funds. But Chairman of the Commission, Muhuyi Magaji Rimingado was also quoted as saying the commission has also suspended the investigation of the Emir. He was quoted by newspaper reports as saying “We suspended our investigation into the questionable expenditure by the Kano emirate council pending the outcome of the Assembly’s investigation. This is in line with the provisions of section 16 of the commission’s law which prevents us from investigating any matter that is before the State Assembly, the Executive and or court. The suspension of investigation by the state assembly does not in any way give us a right to re-launch our investigation because the house did not say it has dismissed the matter. Rather, it suspended it which means the case is still before it. So, for this, the commission is still prevented by section 16 from further investigation into the matter. We are operating under law and we must respect the laws governing the affairs of the commission. But Alhamdulillah, we have achieved more than 80 per cent of the investigation before the state assembly took over the case.”
Frank commended the governor and the members of the state House of Assembly for allowing peace to reign by suspending attempt to probe the Emir, adding that the maturity displayed by Governor Ganduje led state government and the state lawmakers in the face of emerging crisis has shown quality of the calibal of people at the helms of affairs in the state. He also commended the Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, former Heads of state, Northern Governors forum, Sultan of Sokoto Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar and the business mogul Alhaji Aliko Dangote, for their prompt intervention when he called on them to do so. He was however confident that the relationship between the Kano Emirate and the state government would be cemented for the good of the state. He said: “Governor Ganduje and Emir Sanusi have shown to the world that there is no crisis that can not be resolved amicably, even though, this might not go down well with some agents of crisis who benefit more when a good leader is brought down. What has transpired in Kano is a good precedent that other States of the federation and the country need to emulate whenever there is raging crisis in the polity. I also call on Governor Ganduje, Emir Sanusi and the state lawmakers to use this opportunity to open a new chapter in the state that bring about improvement in the living standard of the good people of Kano and Nigeria at large.”
