Why Buhari is Silent Over the De-centralisation of Kano Emirate As Ganduje Gives Staff Of Office To New Emirs

By Suleiman Umaru

 President Muhammadu Buhari of the ruling All Progressive Congress, APC, has refused to be dragged into discussion in the crisis  rocking the Kano Emirate  following its   decentralisation   by Abdullahi Ganduje, the APC, governor of the state  to  avoid being accused of supporting  the  governor’s action.

The Katsina state born Nigerian President, also has refused to congratulate the four Emirs  appointed by Gaduje to oversee the  four  Emirates that had been  carved out of the over 200 year -old  Kano traditional system.   They are  Ibrahim  Abubakar II, Emir of Karaye, Tafida  Abubakar-Il, Emir of  Rano, Ibrahim Abdulkadir, Emir of Gaya and  Aminu Ado-Bayero, the eldest son of the late multi-millionaire  business mogul  and Emir of Kano, as the Emir of Bichi.

The President  may have been briefed by  the Kano state governor  about the balkanisation  of the Kano traditional system in advance by the governor  but had remained silent  because of the  controversy surrounding the action  both within and outside the state. He did not want to aggravate the situation by being seen by Sanusi  II Camp as  having endorsed the governor’s action to humiliate him  while still in office.

  He  was said to have allowed the governor and the state House of Assembly to carry out their Constitutional responsibility without interference. . It was not surprising why the governor on Monday, May 13, 2019, handed over the staff of office to the four  new Emirs , thus bringing  the number of Emirs in the old  Kano traditional system to five.

Many believe that governor’s action  was to undermine the Authority   of Muhammadu Sanusi II,  the current Emir  of Kano, and former governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN  but his appeal to the new first class Emirs   to respect  the  Emir of Kano, who before now  was the only recognised  Emir of Kano speaks volume. This is an indication that the governor still owes his respect to the Emir of Kano.

In handing over  the instrument  of office to the Emirs,  he  said it is an opportunity for them to be dedicated and show more commitment  to serve their subjects  in the areas of ”security, health care delivery system, education, environment  among others”. He assured them that the state government on its part would keep its door open  and  ever ready  to work with them  for the growth and development  of the state  and the nation in general.

He was very emphatic in calling on the new Emirs  to place greater priority  on the security of their domains to avoid the filtration of the members of the  Islamic Fundamentalists group, baptised BokoHaram Insurgents, operating in the north east and the Bandits operating in Zamfara state  , into the ranks of their subjects to cause mayhem.

An elated Ganduje wants the  monarchs to work  closely with the police and other security agencies including the  Army   to  enhance  improved security in their domain.  The governor also enjoined them  to intensify efforts  towards strengthening  Community policing  , as ”practiced globally”, noting that  ” it should form  part of their commitment”  as the government  would back them  to ensure  that ”global best practices  are observed”.

 Recall that  the  governor in signing the bill  approving the creation of the four additional Emirates  out of the Kano traditional system had said that”  Kano is too big to be left  under the control of one monarch because of the difficulty of satisfying all the Communities that make up the Emirate. He had declared that  the creation of the four additional  Emirates  will make the governance of the   Kano traditional  system ”more efficient”.

In spite of the fact that the Kano state governor has finally handed over the staff of office to the new Emirs,  Umar Ado,  a Historian, who could not hide his feelings in a recent interview with This Day Newspaper   has   called on Muhammadu Siad Abubakar, a retired Brigadier General and the Sultan of Sokoto and other members  of the Caliphate , including the Muslim Ummah and the Fulbe  people  to resist the balkanisation of the Kano Emirate by Ganduje before it spread to  the entire  northern  states.

According to him,  the Kano Emirate  had been created  from the time of  Shehu Othman Dan Dodio and therefore wondered why  the Kano state governor  could do what he has done by ”reducing the prestige  and effectiveness of the Kano Emirate  system” .  He fears  that the Caliphate system which is closer to the  Kano traditional system  may  be the next  to be tampered with by a hostile government in the state.

The aggrieved Historian  said gadunje may  have taken advantage of  the frosty relationship between Sanusi II, the  Emir of Kano and his Cousins  to undermine  the Emirate and its rich heritage.   He revealed that  some of  the members of  the Kano Royal family  were  themselves  ‘instigators  of  the crisis that led to the balkanisation of the Emirate because ”they were not  on good  terms with the Emirate .

”They have destroyed   a system  of which  they had  hoped to benefit  from in the futre”,  he had said. More so, he believes that they are already benefiting from the Kano  traditional institution  because  as a  member of the Royal lineage one  need not be an Emir  to benefit from the  Emirate establishment.  But critics noted that  the former CBN, governor was only being victimised by the  Kano state government  with the active  connivance of  the Presidency because of his” outspokenness”.

The Value News findings shows that there is more  to the crisis in the Kano Royal family.  It was learnt the state government Complaints and  anti-corruption agency may have been used by the governor  to uncover alleged fraud  in the  Emir’s Palace through its investigation  of the  allocation  to the Palace  . The probe according to sources  was targeted at getting rid of  the  Emir. The suspicision that he  had supported Abba  Kabir Yusuf, Rabiu Kwankwaso, who was incidentally   a former governor of the state and a Senator of Federal Republic of Nigeria, annoited  Opposition People’s Democratic Party, PDP, governorship Candidate  in the state and Atiku Abubakar, the party Presidential Candidate in the  2019 election may have triggered  up the probe.

The rumour making the rounds  was that the Commission may  transfer the case to the  regular Court  for Sanusi II to defend himself over  allegations   of misappropriation of public funds levelled against him.

The  embattled Emir of Kano  may have sensed  that there are plots to dethrone  him  and banish  him from Kano by the governor in his plan B,  that he quickly sent Aliko Dangote,a respected billionaire and business mogul  ,  to  Ganduje  to plead with him to  have a change of mind towards him.

 The bussines mogul  was said to have met the governor  who gave him three options  which was allegedly presented to the Emir  to choose  from  to save his face.  One of the options, a source  said, was  to resign  or  be dethroned.  The third option was   the creation of four additional Emirates out of Kano Emirate, which he may have settled for. 

 There are indications that governor who is not yet done with the  Sanusi 11, may  want to further  humiliate him  by  going ahead to transfer him   to one of the new Emirates  or replacing him with the Emir from of one of  the new Emirates. This may be bad news for the revered former CBN governor  who has a penchant of talking to people any how including the Lawmakers  , under then Olusegun Obasanjo Administration.