Emmanuel Aziken
On Thursday as his successor as governor of Kano State set about reversing Dr Abdullahi Ganduje’s most prominent legacy in Kano, frustrated minions of the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC apparently could no longer take it.
They unleashed thugs against APC stalwarts protesting against Ganduje’s continued occupancy of the office of national chairman of the APC.
The protesters were reportedly beaten black and blue in the vicinity of the national secretariat of the APC in Abuja.
For Ganduje it appears as if trouble when it came, is gushing in torrents. Next week, he is also due to appear before a court in Kano over allegations of corruption.
After losing the electoral and then the judicial tussle for his chosen successor to replace him as governor, the news that HRH Emir Muhammadu Sanusi II was being reinstated as emir of Kano was another humble pie for the immediate past governor of Kano State.
Even more, what he thought was a legacy in creating four new emirates out of the old Kano emirate was on Thursday consigned to the dustbin of history. Indeed, the act of creating the new emirates was better seen by many historians as the balkanisation of a traditional institution with a history running more than 1,000 years.
Remarkably, Ganduje was certainly not the first political leader of Kano to fight an emir. Indeed, the history of the Kano emirate is suffused with brickbats.
The 11th emir of Kano, HRH Muhammadu Sanusi I was removed from office by his cousin, Sir Ahmadu Bello, who was premier of the Northern Region at the time in 1965.
The 13th emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero was suspended from office and his emirate balkanised by Governor Abubakar Rimi in 1981.
The move against the well-liked Bayero was a political dynamite for Governor Rimi as it led to riots. The political consequences against Rimi according to some historians may have led to his political downfall from which he never recovered.
However, Dr Ganduje’s moves against the 14th emir of Kano, HRH Muhammadu Sanusi II were unlike the previous fights between royalty and political titans. Ganduje’s fight with Emir Sanusi was weaved by mischief and lacked the kind of ideological hue for which Rimi fought.
Remarkably, Sanusi had gotten himself in trouble through his numerous altercations with previous political superiors. He was sacked as governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria by President Goodluck Jonathan on account of unfounded allegations of corruption in his government.
Following that sack and his installation as emir by the All Progressives Congress, APC machine in 2014, he was supposed to have become more guarded in his public utterances.
But not really so.
Though he never mentioned Ganduje by name, Emir Sanusi between 2016-2017 turned into an anti-corruption crusader lambasting governors lavishing in luxury while the people languished in misery.
He also made several public comments against public borrowings and such he claimed were putting the future of the citizenry in penury.
The resort of Ganduje was to launch a probe on the finances of the Kano Emirate.
In early 2017, the governor was believed to have instigated the Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission to open an investigation into the accounts of the Kano Emirate Council headed by Emir Muhammadu Sanusi II.
This followed allegations of questionable expenditures of about N6 billion.
Eventually following the intervention of some leading political actors including the then Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo the inquisition was stopped.
Ahead of the 2019 election virtually everyone knew that Emir Sanusi was not inclined towards Ganduje. It was especially so after the dollar video emerged with allegations in many quarters that Governor Ganduje was the one in the video despite his personal denials.
Whatever, Ganduje survived the election scare. Many believe that the result was actually refurbished to declare him the winner.
Whatever, once he settled into his second term the first act against royalty was to balkanise the Kano Emirate by dividing the emirate into five emirates.
The act of spilling personal political vendetta against the traditional institution was condemned across many quarters. However, with a belief that he was insuperable, he straddled across the state.
A year later, still not convinced that he had sufficiently humiliated the emir and the traditional institution, he deposed Emir Sanusi II from the throne.
One of the clapbacks in the last few days has been a video clip of Ganduje mocking Sanusi after the deposition. That undeniably underlined the personal beef that highlighted Ganduje’s approach to the issue with Sanusi.
Though an older person, he belittled his person and the office of governor with the malice with which he stoked relations with the emir.
Today, with questions hanging over his continued stay as national chairman of the APC, his lot has been worsened by the personal humiliation of the reversal of his infamous action in the deposition of Emir Sanusi.
Undeniably, the traditional institution is worse off for the recycling of emirs of Kano. But given that the incumbent governor of Kano State, Abba Yusuf took it as a campaign promise to restore Emir Sanusi, your correspondent does not fear a permanent scar on the institution.
What is needed is for Emir Sanusi II to be reconciliatory to all as father of all. He should also be more careful with his mouth which got him into trouble with President Jonathan and Governor Ganduje. When he speaks let it be that he is speaking truth to power.
