Kano State governor Abdullahi Ganduje said he has nothing against the Emir of Kano Muhammadu Sanusi II concerning the creation of new Emirates in the state.
“So, it is not vendetta, I am not against him. In fact, he is supposed to be reporting to the local government chairman according to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” the governor said in Abuja on Friday.
The new law created four additional traditional institutions and emirate councils each with a substantive first-class title of emir. They are Gaya, Karaye, Rano and Bichi.
The emirate council is further expanded with new districts and domains under which the five independent traditional institutions will operate.
By the new arrangement, the Kano emirate will now cover 10 local government areas, Rano emirate (10 local government areas), Gaya emirate (eight local government areas), Karaye emirate (six local government areas) and Bichi emirate will cover nine local councils.
Following the creation of the new law, many speculated that Ganduje created the new Emirates in order to reduce the power and influence of Sanusi over political differences.
Sanusi, a former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has allegedly been at loggerheads with the state government. In 2018, he was accused of financial misconduct by the Kano State’s anti-graft agency which was later suspended.
He was also accused of getting enmeshed in partisan politics by openly supporting a political party in the just-concluded gubernatorial election in the state.
It took the intervention of prominent personalities, including business mogul, Alhaji Aliko Dangote and the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar II, to stop a move by the state government to dethrone Sanusi in 2018. However, the move never deterred the Kano ruler from speaking to power
Ganduje, however, maintained that the decentralisation of the Emir position 800 years after is to take the state to the next level.
“So if something developed 800 years ago, things are also developing now and there will be another 800 years. So look at the history,” he said.
