The reinstatement of Muhammadu Sanusi II as the Emir of the prestigious Kano Emirate by the state government has been voided.
Justice Abdullahi Liman of the Federal High Court, Kano, on Thursday, refused the application to declare the amended Kano Emirate law null and void.
He therefore overturned all the actions taken by Governor Abba Yusuf after the controversial law was amended by the Kano State House of Assembly on May 23, 2024.
Justice Liman faulted the governor’s assent to the bill and the presentation of an appointment letter to Emir Sanusi on May 24, 2024, despite an order of court directing all parties to maintain status quo.
The judge said he listened to the statement of governor in the media after assenting to the law, and he was convinced that the respondents (the governor and Kano State House of Assembly) were aware of the order of maintaining status quo pending the hearing and determination of the motions on notice in the court.
Justice Liman said the mess in the state could have been presented if the respondents complied with the court order, which would still have allowed them to carry out their assignments.
Two royal families have been in a supremacy battle in the ancient city: the Bayero and the Sanusi families.
Emir Muhammadu Sanusi II beat Aminu Ado Bayero to succeed the latter’s father, Emir Ado Bayero, in 2014.
He was later deposed for his predecessor’s son, Aminu Ado Bayero, amid a fallout with the state governor at the time, Abdullahi Ganduje.
Four years and a change of administration later, Governor Yusuf re-appointed Sanusi, a former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as Kano Emir after the state Assembly amended a controversial law that broke the emirate into five.
However, a kingmaker in one of the former emirates Aminu Babba Danagundi, challenged the propriety of the law and asked the court to declare the repealed law null and void.
