Kano Emirates and Governor Ganduje’s Disregard for Rule of Law
The decision by the Kano government to reject the state high court judgment which nullified the creation of four new Kano emirates shows disdain and gross disrespect for Nigeria’s judiciary, writes Davidson Iriekpen
If there is any lesson to learn from the Thursday judgment of the Kano State High Court that nullified the four new additional emirates created by the Governor Abdullahi Ganduje government, it is how to always follow due process, especially when going after a perceived enemy or opponent. Delivering judgment in the suit filed by a former Minority Leader in Kano House of Assembly, Salisu Gwarzo, Justice Usman Na’Abba not only nullified the creation of the new emirates but also restrained the four new emirs appointed by Ganduje from parading themselves as first-class emirs.
In order to whittle down the powers and influence of the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Sanusi Muhammad II, the state government had sent a bill to the state assembly to create four addition emirates: Karaye, Bichi, Rano, and Gaya.
And in what observers described as the fastest bill ever passed by any legislature in Nigeria’s history, the assembly received the proposal to create the new emirates and passed it into law within three days and without holding a proper public hearing.
A few minutes after, the governor signed the bill into law, proclaiming the four emirates. The new law recognized the additional emirates as first-class, the same coveted status currently accorded to the centuries-old Kano Emirate.
Consequent upon this, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) caucus in the state assembly led by Gwarzo approached the court to seek urgent injunctions on five issues surrounding the creation of the new emirates.
The lawmakers said the state assembly did not properly convene before hurriedly passing a bill that established four additional units for the Kano Emirate Council.
In his judgment, Justice Na’Abba concluded that the state assembly did not follow due process in creating the emirates. Though the judge added that it is the constitutional responsibility of the state assembly to create new emirates, he said it violated Section 101 of the 1999 Constitution, which gives it the power to enact its rules and guidelines of proceedings.
The court submitted that the state assembly’s rules and regulations have to be in conformity with the Nigerian constitution. Specifically, he nullified the proceedings of the state assembly conducted on May 6, 7 and 8 which created the new emirates. He said Ganduje should not have assented to the law since its procedure was faulty.
Justice Na’Abba had earlier dismissed the preliminary objections by the state Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Ibrahim Mukhtar, and other respondents in the suit that the plaintiff lacked the right to challenge the new Kano law. He ruled that the plaintiff, Salisu Gwarzo, who was the minority leader in the state assembly, has given sufficient reasons for filing the suit and thus had the locus standi to do so.
The creation of the emirates by the Kano government was criticized by many within and outside the state. Before the new law, Sanusi was the only first-class emir in the state. He had traditional control of all the state’s 44 local government areas.
Thirty-six of those local councils have now been yanked off his control, leaving the former CBN governor with only eight local government areas to administer.
Following coronation as the emir of Kano in 2014 by Rabiu Kwankwaso, there has been no love lost between Sanusi and Kwankwaso’s successor, Ganduje, since the latter assumed office in 2015. The emir was accused of being too critical of Ganduje and his policies with some of his critics accusing him of supporting opposition politicians.
In 2017, what appeared like an engineered plot by the government to remove the emir through a probe of the emirate council’s finances was only halted after a series of high-level interventions.
However, not many people thought that only two years down the line, the same animosity would crop up, leading to the balkanization of a geographical and cultural entity that had maintained a single rulership since the establishment of the Sokoto caliphate in 1804, just to whittle down Sanusi’s traditional influence.
The governor then went ahead to give effect to the new law by appointing four additional emirs. The new law reinvigorated three thrones that were in existence before the Fulani Jihad of 1804, which subsumed them under Kano as the recognized emirate in the region. These were Karaye, Rano, and Gaya. The law also created a new seat in Bichi, which is enthroned to the Kano ruling house.
The governor, therefore, elevated the heads of the institutions in Rano, Gaya, and Karaye to first-class emirs, as provided by the law, and appointed Aminu Bayero, son of the late Emir of Kano, Ado Bayero, to head Bichi.
Additionally, the amendments changed the pattern of emirate councils in all the five emirates. The exclusivity of choice of council members by the emir was changed, making local government chairmen, secretary to the state government and five appointees of the governor into the councils.
Speaking to State House correspondents, when he went to visit President Muhammadu Buhari, Ganduje defended his government’s swift creation of four additional emirates.
“It is not a vendetta. I am not against him (Sanusi). In fact, he is supposed to be reporting to the local government chairman according to the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” the governor was quoted to have said.
After the judgment, counsel to the plaintiff, Maliki Kuliya, expressed satisfaction with it. He said it confirmed the status of the court as the last hope of the powerless.
But the state’s attorney general, who is the fifth defendant in the case, said all the defendants in the suit, would study the judgment for the next line of action.
It did not take long to understand what he meant. A few hours later, the state Commissioner for Information, Muhammad Garba, said despite the judgment, the government would continue to recognize the new rulers as first-class emirs and deal with them as such.
He added that the state government would not fold its arms and concede to threats on constitutional power in the interest of the well-being of the people and general development of the state.
“Despite the ruling, the government still recognizes them as first-class emirs and will continue dealing with them as such,” Garba said.
According to him, the state government is studying the ruling with a view to taking immediate and appropriate action. He regretted that despite the constitutional power and authority conferred on the state assembly on such progressive and important issues, the court rules otherwise.
Though the information commissioner did not reveal if the state government would appeal the judgment, many have sensed that even if it did, it would not pursue it.
But observers see the declaration by the state government to continue to recognize the four new emirates as part of the disdain and gross disrespect the executive arm of government has for the judiciary.
Those who spoke with THISDAY said the frosty relationship between Ganduje and Sanusi was not the issue but the disrespect and disregard for an order of a competent court.
Even though many of the observers believe that it would not be easy to ask the new emirs to step down, others feel that that is why the governor should not have been in a hurry to enthrone the new traditional rulers in the first place. They pointed out that when the court ordered the state government to maintain the status quo, it should have respected the decision. A lawyer, Fatai Usman, said, “This is what you get when you are in a hurry to get at an opponent. Whatever it takes, the law has to be obeyed. A competent court has nullified the emirates. It has to be obeyed otherwise the emirs are on the throne illegally. Any entitlement, allowance, and salary they get are illegal and criminal.
“Whether the judgment is obeyed or not, it has already been declared as illegal by a competent court. It will always add to the plethora of orders by the courts that the APC has disobeyed both at the federal and state levels. The party and their leaders, who came to power under the pretext of change will go down in the history of Nigeria’s democratic journey as the most lawless.”