Sanusi Heads To Court Over Dethronement As Emir Of Kano

Dethroned Emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi II, says he is going to court over his dethronement by Governor Abdullahi Ganduje‘s led Kano State government.

Naija News had reported earlier that the Kano State government led by Governor Ganduje on Monday, March 9, dethroned Emir Sanusi.

This online news platform understands that Emir Sanusi’s dethronement followed the State Council executive meeting presided over by the Governor Ganduje.

However, a statement by Alhaji Usman Alhaji, the Secretary to the State Government, said Emir Sanusi’s dethronement was due to his “total disrespect to lawful instructions from the office of the governor and other lawful authorities”

“The Kano State Executive Council under the chairmanship of His Excellency, the governor of Kano, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje has unanimously approved the immediate removal/dethronement of the Emir of Kano Emirate, Muhammad Sanusi II,” the statement said.

Reacting to the banishment through Abubakar Mahmoud (SAN), his lawyer, Sanusi vowed to challenge his dethronement and banishment in court.

Sanusi’s lawyer who declared this in a briefing a few minutes ago in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, said the restriction of Sanusi’s movement and his dethronement were unlawful and gross violation of his human rights.

“We are going to be in touch with him to discuss which line of action to take as his lawyers. And we as lawyers, of course, we believe that this action was illegal and unconstitutional,” he said.

“And more so, the aspect of banishment, under the constitution, nobody can be deprived of his liberty under the manner he has been deprived of his. Nevertheless, we will be in touch with him and hopefully, come up with the next line of action in due course.

“The next line of action would obviously depend on the instruction from the Emir. There are two aspects to it – the dethronement and the banishment. We will be consulting with him, I had a meeting with him before he was taken to custody and obviously, at that point, he has not taken a decision on whether he is going to pursue this matter in court or not.

“Of course, we will give him time to come up with a decision on his dethronement. But as far as his liberty is concerned, we are very firmly clear that this is an illegal act and we will be considering what line of action to take hopefully by tomorrow (Tuesday) when I speak with him.

“An action that is illegal can be reversed by the court of law and that is why we have the written constitution and courts in place. Under the constitution of the country, whenever the executive branch of government takes an action that is unconstitutional or illegal, the courts are there for all citizens to seek redress.

“We are confident given the fact of this case that if the Emir was to challenge the action, it would be reversed because the action, in our view, is repressing and illegal,” the Senior Advocate of Nigeria added.