Respite for Sanusi
The reported suspension of the probe of the Emir of Kano, Mallam Muhammad Sanusi II, by the Kano State House of Assembly following the intervention of some prominent Nigerians was not only timely, but well-reasoned. Those said to have intervened included the Acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo; former military rulers, Generals Ibrahim Babangida and Abdulsalami Abubakar; the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, and the President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki, among others.
This, reports added, was on account of their pressure on Governor Abdullahi Ganduje to ask the state assembly to halt the probe in the interest of peace in the state. Ganduje was believed to have instigated the probe in the first place. And promptly too, the assembly dropped the probe at his bidding. This also came on the heels of the plea by a coalition of civil society groups in the state, which had joined in calling on the legislators to stop the exercise.
Put succinctly, these interventions and the eventual suspension of the probe have not in any way absolved the emir of any wrongdoing, if at all there was any. The fact that the probe itself was largely believed to have been informed by politics other than the genuine intention of state institutions to discharge their responsibilities put so much at stake.. To have rubbished the emirate on such grounds would have been irreparable. But, that said, the development is instructive for Emir Sanusi. It’s time to stop swimming in the murky water of politics.