Dan’Agundi: Why I’m Challenging Reinstatement of Sanusi as Kano Emir

*Says government action did not follow due process 

*Insists Ado Bayero remains Emir

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

Alhaji Aminu Babba Dan’Agundi, the Sarkin Dawaki Babba of Kano and the kingmaker who got the court order temporarily stalling the reinstallation of Muhammad Sanusi 11 as the 16th Emir of Kano, yesterday said he approached the judiciary to make a pronouncement because the government’s action did not follow due process

A member of the emirate council, Dan’Agundi stated that the law which was said to have been repealed by the state lawmakers touched on the fundamental rights of the people of the state.
“That was the reason I went to court to challenge that law on behalf of myself and the Emir of Kano and all the other emirates,” he stated on Arise Television, THISDAY’s broadcast arm.
He maintained that he did not believe that the judge who halted the process was on vacation, arguing that the matter was beyond just a chieftaincy affair, as argued in certain quarters, but bordered on breach of fundamental human rights.

While admitting that the State House of Assembly has all the right to repeal any laws, he insisted that there are procedures before such actions should be taken.
“There are rules. Even, there are rules of the House itself which I think they have not followed that rule,” he added.
Dan’Agundi argued that while the removal of Sanusi followed due process, since  he was queried more than once at the time by the then Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, in the current case, it was not so.

He further stressed that Sanusi ‘challenged’ the sitting governor at the time publicly even when he had access to him privately.
“In fact, as an emir, you cannot challenge a governor, a sitting governor, which he did. If you remember very well, Ganduje wanted to do a railway project in Kano, just like what they are doing in Lagos. Then the emir of Kano challenged the governor on that publicly.
“We are not saying that the emir cannot advise a governor if there are things he thinks can better the state, but he didn’t do that. He went to the press,” the kingmaker added.
He recalled that Sanusi did the same to Rabiu Kwakwanso and President Goodluck Jonathan in the past, which he said led to his suspension by the former president.

“Kwakwanso wrote a letter. He (Sanusi) was working with First Bank. Kwakwanso wrote a letter to First Bank that they must dismiss him or remove him, otherwise, he will withdraw all our funds, Kano state funds, from the bank,” he added.
He argued that 80 per cent of the people in Kano do not support what the State House of Assembly did.
“The governor can remove an emir if he wants to remove him. But he has to follow due process. You just don’t remove an emir,  like the Emir of Kano in a day, without any query. He was on a national assignment. He went to Lagos just for him to hear on radio that he had been removed. It is never done.

“We are not civil servants. We are public servants. We are being fed by public money. So nobody has the right to remove you from what you are or what you have been doing just like that. It’s not done,” he contended.
He urged the government of Kano State to spend the N99.9 million it earmarked for the ‘renovation’ of  Ado Bayero’s mini-palace to fix dilapidated primary schools in Kano.

As of today, in the eyes of the law,  Dan’Agundi argued that Bayero remains the Emir of Kano.
“Not even the governor can change it because every citizen of this country relies on rule of law. The governor cannot do it. The governor does not have power just to remove any public servant, anyhow, without giving him fair hearing,” he posited.
He urged the Kano State government to allow the rule of law reign supreme, stressing that if that had been done, there wouldn’t be any problems.
“Once you do that, that’s why we have courts. If this court gives you an order, you don’t agree, you go and appeal. But you don’t say because you’re a governor, whoever you are, you say I will not follow the rule of law.

“It’s not like that. Anywhere in the world, if they want peace, they will follow the rule of law. That’s the only solution,” he stressed.
He added: “You have to publish it in a national newspaper before you change it (the law), because it affects so many people, the rights of so many people. Over two, three, four thousand people lost their jobs. You can’t do that.
“And even the law that the governor is relying to appoint Sanusi does not even exist. But this is something we will go and challenge in the court,” he argued.