Did Appeal Court Sack Sanusi as Kano Emir? Kano Govt Breaks Silence

• The Kano state government has said that the Court of Appeal judgment on Friday, March 14, did not remove Muhammadu Sanusi as the Emir of Kano
• Barrister Haruna Isa Dederi, the state commissioner for justice and attorney general, said that the appellate court cannot go against its earlier ruling
• Dederi claimed that the ruling implies the status quo should be maintained and that the earlier judgment of the Court of Appeal vindicated the government in Sanusi's reinstatement

Kano - The Kano government has claimed that the recent judgment of the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja nullifying the reinstatement of the 16th Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, did not mean that the traditional ruler was sacked.

Barrister Haruna Isa Dederi, the state commissioner for justice and attorney general, claimed while addressing journalists on the ruling in Kano, noting that the verdict of the Court of Appeal on January 10, 2025, reaffirmed the state government's authority to reinstate Sanusi.

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The attorney general further explained that it was only the Supreme Court that had the constitutional authority to overturn the decision of the state government.

Isa Dederi's remark came after the Court of Appeal's judgment on the stay of execution application that was initiated by Aminu Baba DanAgundi, who was one of the kingmakers loyal to Aminu Ado-Bayero, the 15th Emir of Kano, who was deposed before Sanusi's reinstallment.

The court on Friday, March 14, ruled that the status quo should be maintained, adding that it should be done until the Supreme Court delivered its verdict.

However, Dederi claimed that the decision of the Court of Appeal did not overturn its judgment but merely ordered a hold on the implementation till the Supreme Court delivered its verdict.

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He further clarified that the January 10, 2025 ruling had set aside the verdict of the Federal High Court decision that nullified the reinstatement of Sanusi, and affirmed that the lower court did not have the jurisdiction to hear the emirate matter.

His statement reads in part:

“It doesn’t mean that the judgment delivered on January 10, 2025, has been quashed. That judgment is still standing and subsisting. The Court of Appeal cannot reverse its own decision; only the Supreme Court has the power to set it aside.”

The Kano emirate has been in a leadership crisis since Bayero was removed and Sanusi was reinstated by the Kano state government. There have been injunctions and counter-injunctions from the Federal and State High Courts as well as the Court of Appeal. With the Court of Appeal ruling on Friday, the Supreme Court has the final say on the matter.

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Kano politics get tough over APC, NNPP

Legit.ng earlier reported that an APC group in Kano has disclosed that the leading opposition in the state would form a shadow government to scrutinise Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf's administration.

APC Patriotic Volunteers disclosed during its meeting in Kano to update members about its activities on Saturday, February 15.

A shadow government is also referred to as the invisible government or cryptocracy, it is about the view that the actual political power does not only reside with the elected official.

Proofreading by James Ojo, copy editor at Legit.ng.

Source: Legit.ng