4th June 2024
As the tussle for the throne of the Kano Emirate lingers, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has recognised Muhammadu Sanusi II as the lawful monarch of the emirate.
Apart from the fact that all the district heads across the 44 local government areas of Kano, the council chairmen, commissioners and well meaning Kano people and Nigerians consider him as the one on the throne, the NBA has also identified with Sanusi as the 16th Emir of Kano, by inviting him to their on-going annual conference in Kano.
The conference, holding at Amani Event Centre, Kano, which had in attendance the President of National Industrial Court of Nigeria, Hon. Justice Benedict Bakwaph Kanyip, NBA President, Yakubu Maikyau, SAN, Chief Judge of Kano State, Justice Dije Aboki and other legal luminaries, is the first NBA’s annual conference for the entire northern region.
Given the significance of this gathering, the NBA officially invited Emir Sanusi, to not just attend, but to also render his royal blessing and address the participants.
The NBA did not invite Alhaji Aminu Ado Bayero, having also recognised that the 15th emir has been dethroned by the new Kano Chieftaincy (repealed) Law 2024.
The case was to be heard at the Federal High Court yesterday, but was stalled because of the strike action by the organised labour unions.
Emir Sanusi, who spoke at the NBA conference through his representative, Mahe Bashir Wali (the Walin Kano), welcomed the participants warmly and told them that Kano had a long enviable history as a cultural and commercial nerve centre of the northern region.
The monarch said the theme of the conference: ‘Administration of Justice in Nigeria: Challenges and Reforms,’ was apt as it was only when there was justice in the land that the society could have peace, which is the prerequisite for progress and development.
For the state governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf, it was a good opportunity to challenge the NBA members on the conflicting court orders given on the Kano emirate tussle when the case is purely a state affair.
The governor, who was represented at the conference by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Abdullahi Bappa Bichi, told the legal practitioners to always tell their clients the truth when they brought a bad case, even when the truth was bitter, rather than insisting on satisfying their clients by carrying out what was not within the ambit of the law.
To overcome the challenges confronting the administration of justice in Nigeria, the governor said we must uphold the rule of law and make comprehensive judicial reforms.
Speaking to journalists on the emirate tussle, Barr O. M. Femi said the NBA was not unaware of what was happening, saying “but it is good that the court is to decide, so that non of the parties involved would be aggrieved again. The ruling will set a precedence for lawyers and judges on such matters.
“However, you don’t need to be told or to wear binoculars to see that His Royal Majesty Muhammadu Sanusi II is the current Emir of Kano.
“Nothing explains this fact more than what could be deduced from the ongoing NBA’s annual conference attended by Muhammadu Sanusi II by proxy. The recognition accorded him by the legal practitioners of our land tells it all.”
