We still recognise emirs sacked by court, says Kano govt

The Kano state government says it will continue to recognise the emirs sacked by a Kano state high court on Thursday.

Usman Na’Abba, a judge, had ordered the sack of Aminu Ado Bayero (Bichi emirate), Ibrahim Gaya (emir of Gaya), Tafida Ila (emir of Rano), and Ibrahim Abukakar (emir of Karaye).

The judge held that the creation of four new emirates did not follow due process. He said the state house of assembly violated the provision of section 101 of the 1999 constitution which it to make laws.

Reacting to the court ruling, Muhammad Garba, a spokesman of the Kano government, said the Ganduje administration will continue treating those sacked as first-class monarchs.

Garba said the government is still studying the ruling with a view to taking immediate appropriate action.

He said it was unfortunate that despite the powers conferred on the state assembly, the court ruled otherwise.

Garba added that the government  will not fold its arms and concede its constitutional power  in the interest of the well-being of the people and general development of the state.

He also advised residents to be calm, and “await further action”.

In May, the governor created four additional emirates in Kano — Bichi, Rano, Karaye and Gaya — in a bid to whittle down the influence of Muhammad Sanusi II, emir of Kano, though he said the move was for administrative convenience.

He said the challenges of the Kano emirate are “too weighty” and that the new ones will bring development closer to citizens.

The creation of the new emirates was said to have been targeted at Sanusi who reportedly worked against his reelection.

To challenge the action, four Kano kingmakers filed a suit against Ganduje.

The kingmakers who took the legal action are Madakin Kano, district head of Dawakintofa; Yusuf Nabahani, district head of Wudil; Abdullahi Sarki-Ibrahim, district head of Gabasawa; and Bello Abubakar, district head of Dambatta, Mukhtar Adnan.