In Kano’s eyes, Muhammadu Sanusi II, not cousin is the Emir for now
Last year, a kingmaker Sarkin Dawaki Babba, had sued the Kano State House of Assembly, the Speaker of the Kano State parliament and some security agencies for removing Aminu Ado Bayero.
Before a recent pushback by a rival’s ally got in the way, Muhammadu Sanusi II’s reinstatement as the recognised Emir of Kano, as well as his dominion over surrounding Emirates would probably have been sealed by now, but himself and his supporters must wait for a Supreme Court of Nigeria verdict that determines if he is to be the reigning monarch instead of his cousin, Aminu Ado Bayero.
This follows developments on Friday, 14 March 2025, when a three-man Appeal Court panel headed by Justice Okon Abang ruled that the parties privy to the Kano Emirate scuffle must adhere to what the status quo indicated back in January.
On 10 January, the Appellate Court, reacting to the Kano State of Assembly countersuit it had before it, set aside the initial Federal High Court, Kano ruling, which nullified moves by the state officials to reinstate Muhammadu Sanusi as the 16th Emir.
The ruling set aside was reportedly because the federal high court lacked jurisdiction to oversee chieftaincy matters, therefore ordering a retrial at the appropriate court.
As a result, the disputing parties were told to return to the status quo, which, to the Kano State Government, meant reverting to last May when the Kano State Emirate Council (Repeal) Law 2024 was passed and signed by Abba Kabir Yusuf, the incumbent governor.
Mr. Abba Kabir Yusuf, on May 23, 2024, signed the Kano State Emirate Council (Repeal) Law 2024, deemed necessary after predecessor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje (2015–2023), now the All Progressives Congress (APC) national chairman, dethroned Sanusi II through the 2019 Emirate Council Law he helped enact.
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One of the reasons for dethroning the Emir on 9 March 2020 was due to total insubordination.
Four years later, Mr. Yusuf, who had campaigned for his election under the New Nigeria Peoples Party based on an agenda to reform, reappointed the 14th Emir of Kano, Sanusi, as soon as the rights reserved for state governors got to him.
Post-May 23, 2024, the subjects loyal to Sanusi’s cousin, the 15th Emir of Kano, Aminu Ado Bayero, whose reign started on Saturday, 3 July 2021, pushed via litigation for the latter to remain in the seat, and this is still going on.
Alhaji Aminu Babba-Dan’agundi, a kingmaker, is one such subject bearing the title Sarkin Dawaki Babba.
Last year, Sarkin Babba had sued the Kano State House of Assembly, the Speaker of the Kano State House of Assembly, the Attorney General of Kano State, and security agencies, including the Department of State Services (DSS) for removing Aminu Ado Bayero whose time in the post saw the Kano Emirate broken into five parts – Kano, Rano, Gaya, Karaye and Bichi.
The kingmaker during Bayero’s Emirship consistently held that the 2019 Emirate Council Law should remain according to the ruling given by Justice Abdullahi Muhammad-Liman of a Federal High Court in Kano, whose verdict initially rendered the repealed council law null and void but was later told by a higher court in January 2025 about its lack of jurisdiction to entertain chieftaincy disputes.
A judgement delivered by Justice Gabriel Kolawole of an Appellate Court in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) held that the proper order to make is to order the 1st respondent (Baba-Dan’Agundi) to transfer the pending suit before the Federal High Court to the High Court of Kano State where the chief judge shall assign it to a judge who has not been previously involved in the hearing of the suit, but it turned out that this wasn’t going to be the end of it because the disputing parties were now looking towards the apex court for the eventual say.
Pending this final judgement, as one final push, it was gathered that Alhaji Aminu Babba-Dan’agundi forwarded a request to the Appeal Court asking for a stay of execution while all await the Supreme Court order – a request which has turned out to be legitimate in the eyes of the law because of the special circumstances that have been revealed.
An injunction is hereby granted restraining the respondents (Kano State House of Assembly, Kano State Government, etc.), either by themselves, their agents, privies, servants, or personal representatives, from enforcing the judgment of this Court in Appeal No. CA/KN/126/2024 – KANO STATE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY & ANOR VS ALHAJI AMINU BABBA-DAN’AGUNDI & OTHERS delivered on 10/1/2025, pending the hearing and determination of the applicant’s appeal filed on 24/1/2025 before the Supreme Court of Nigeria, reads the Appeal Court ruling delivered yesterday.
Court verdicts are often subject to personal interpretation as the warring sides always seem to pursue a narrative that favours them, and so, the Kano State Government a day after the Appellate Court ruling made a move to dissect things through its Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General, Barrister Haruna Isa Dederi, supposedly offering clarity.
Speaking to reporters after Friday’s ruling, Barrister Dederi said, It doesn’t mean that the judgment delivered on January 10, 2025, has been quashed, as many seemed to have believed.
That judgment, he says, is still standing and subsisting. The Court of Appeal cannot reverse its own decision; only the Supreme Court has the power to set it aside.
