The Real Cause Of The Rift Between Ganduje & Sanusi

Salihu Yakasai, the Special Assistant to Governor Umar Ganduje on Media and Publicity, has narrated how the crisis between the dethroned Emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi II, and Ganduje started.

This he revealed while speaking during a programme on Silverbird Television monitored by our correspondent.

Yakasai stated that the problem between the two leaders began about three years ago.

According to him, the crisis intensified when the former Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria publicly criticised Ganduje at a public event in Kaduna.

Further, he accused the former Emir of being confrontational with the government, adding that Sanusi was not conscious of the fact that Kano is a conservative state.

Yakasai said, “Let me start from the beginning which is over three years ago. That is the genesis of all this crisis. That was when the dethroned Emir at an event in Kaduna publicly criticised and ridiculed the governor on the issue of the proposed light rail project.

“On that particular project, the Emir has access to the governor, he has the ears of the governor and could easily book an appointment with the governor on his reservation on the project.

“Rather than do that, he went to use the platform of a televised programme. Since that time, the situation kept deteriorating.

“With the creation of new emirates, one would have expected Emir Sanusi to move on with it since the court has affirmed that it was legally done. Since then, the Emir hardly attends any government function and it is mandatory for them to do so. He also refused to send representatives.

“We had one that was very important, which was the launching of free secondary education in Kano State and integration of the Almajiri project, which was launched by the Vice President (Yemi Osinbajo) at that time. That was a very important project for the State that we had seven ambassadors, members of the international community and ministers. The Emir was in Kano but did not attend that important event.