Emirship tussle: Gaya residents protest dissolution of emirate

Some residents in Gaya, a town in Kano, are currently protesting the dissolution of their emirate by the state government.

Gaya is one of the emirates affected by the repeal of the Emirate Council Law 2019.

Abdullahi Ganduje, former governor of Kano, had relied on the law to depose Muhammadu Sanusi as Emir in 2020.

The protesters held aloft placards with various inscriptions and chanted anti-government slogans.

They said the dissolution of the emirate was laced with “political mischief”. 

There has been palpable tension in Kano since the state government moved to reinstate Sanusi.

On Thursday, the Kano house of assembly repealed the 2019 law which balkanised the emirate into five jurisdictions.

The new emirate law stipulated the sack of all the Emirs in the jurisdictions and a restoration of the old order.

One Emir will now oversee all of Kano.

Abba Yusuf, the governor of Kano, had given the sacked monarchs 48 hours to vacate their palaces.

The Emirs of Bichi, Rano, Karaye, and Gaya have complied with the directive.

BACKGROUND

Aminu Bayero was deposed as Emir on Friday.

On Saturday, Bayero returned to the city and moved into a palace in Nassarawa LGA of the state.

A retinue of soldiers who had been protecting Bayero before he was dethroned, rode with him from the airport to the palace.

Subsequently, the governor ordered Bayero’s arrest after the deposed monarch arrived in Kano to a hero’s welcome from a horde of his supporters.

On May 23, a federal high court in Kano ordered the state government not to enforce the Emirate Council Repeal Law 2024.

Usaini Gumel, commissioner of police in Kano, had disclosed that security agencies would obey the court order.