Former governor of Kano State, Rabiu Musa Kwankwas has said Governor Abdullahi Ganduje removed Muhammadu Sanusi 11 as Emir of Kano on the orders of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Kwankwaso, a former presidential aspirant on the platform of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, claimed on the BBC Hausa Service on Wednesday morning that the “the governor of Kano himself have been saying that he has been given order to remove Sanusi,” even as he affirmed that the President has been intervening in the affairs of Kano State.

“President Buhari is getting involved in the affairs of Kano state,” Kwankwaso said.

The Presidency has not spoken on the sack of Sanusi since the former Emir of Kano was deposed by the Kano State Government on Monday.

But Buhari, had during a visit of a delegation from Kano State to the Aso Rock presidential villa some weeks ago said he will not interfere in the rift between the Emir and the his State Government.

The President had at that occasion, noted that he will be overstepping his bounds, constitutionally, if he get involved in the dispute between the monarch and Ganduje.

The BBC noted that the former Kano Governor did not provide any evidence to back his claim of the involvement of the President in the removal of the former Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria as Emir.

Kwankwaso, under whose tenure Sanusi was installed as the Emir in 2014, also claimed in the BBC interview that the people of Kano were saddened the deposition of the Emir.

He described the deposed monarch as a “honourable king and a man of the world.”

The former Governor also denied claims by the Kano State Government that he issued two letters of warning to Sanusi while he was in office.

“I have never given the Emir any warning letter or anything like that.”

He also denied claim that his supporters under the Kwankwasiyya movement, were responsible for stirring up tensions between Sanusi and Governor Ganduje.

According to Kwankwaso, his supporters were only after ‘the truth’, and were angry with Ganduje because of the outcome of the 2019 Kano gubernatorial election, which according to him was rigged against his party and in favour of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.

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Governors of Southeast under the aegis of South East Governors’ Forum have reacted to the proposed Federal government loan of N22.7bn which has drawn some controversy recently.

The loan has drawn condemnation from the South easterners because of their exclusion from list of zones to benefit from the loan.

In a statement signed by the five governors of the region, the Forum noted that the loan have not been approved by the National Assembly.

They said: ‘South East Governors’ Forum met on Saturday 7th March, 2020, following a lot of calls and condemnations from our people questioning why South East should be excluded from the proposed Federal Government’s Loan of Twenty-Two Billion, Seven Hundred Thousand US Dollars ($22.7 Billion), whereas the other 5 zones of the country have visible budget”.

“Our people gave the impression that the Senate had already approved the sum despite objections raised by the South East Senators”..

The Governors noted that the House of Representatives has not considered the loan.

They said they have reached out to Mr. President, the Senate President and Mr. Speaker and gotten assured responses that they will address the issues within the context of the loan.

“We therefore plead with our people to be calm and engage us constructively as we believe that Mr. President has never said no to any of the requests of the South East Governors”.

“The South East Governors believe that we can deploy dialogue, negotiation and good understanding to right any perceived injustice, rather than engage the Federal Government in a battle of which no body is expected to win the boss”

“We have written to Mr. President and the leadership of the National Assembly on this matter and we believe that the inclusion of the South East Rail line corridors, development of our Coal Plant in Enugu and development of limestone deposits in the South East should make the list with the loan”

‘We must however continue to thank our dear President for his unstoppable kind attention on the construction of the 2nd Niger Bridge, renovation/expansion of Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Reconstruction of Portharcourt/Enugu two-lane expressway, and other projects in the South East by the Federal Government’.

‘We pledge our loyalty and support to Mr. President in the face of this challenging moment of our National history as we keep faith in God Almighty”, the said.

The Kano State Government has made more revelations about what led to the deposed of Lamido Sanusi II.

The state government held that Sanusi was queried four times by the administration of Rabiu Kwankwaso for disrespecting the tradition of the emirate and also had been on loggerhead with Kano State governor, Abdullahi Ganduje for three years.

The spokesperson to the governor of Kano, Mr. Salihu Yakasai featuring on a private radio station in Osogbo, Osun State, Rave FM on the programme, Frank Talk on Tuesday stated that only the people who have not been following several developments in Kano State about Sanusi are the one that is shocking about his dethronement.

Yakasai noted that reasons for his dethronement have been going on for three years which he pointed insubordination as part of the reasons for dethroning him.

He opined that no state governor in Nigeria can tolerate his (Sanusi) insubordination like Ganduje did in the past three years.

He said, “No matter how highly placed the emir is, constitutionally is at the mercy of the state governor. If you remove sentiment and emotion from the issue, you will know that emir is an appointment from the governor. There are certain expectations from Emir and part of it is to respect the constituted authority and he has a limit which he has been crossing for 3years.

He, however, said Sanusi was not sacked for allegation of corruption but on the ground of disobeying the law.

He said “the position of Emir comes with its own restrictions which Sanusi didn’t take cognizance of. Sanusi did not grow up in Kano state. He does not understand the traditional institution that he was occupying.

”Sanusi always goes to the gallery to talk about issues to get applause. At the tail end of the administration of former governor of Kano, Rabiu Kwankwaso reintroduced ban of street begging and that time Sanusi was accommodating the Alimajiris in his palace, feeding them and on that particular issue, he was given four queries for disobeying him and governor Ganduje for the past five years gave him one.

Among other reasons he gave was that Sanusi was participating in politics, destruction of cultural heritage, shunning programme of government on educating to solve the challenges of Almajiris.

Yakasai also said, “He speaks other languages in Kano which is against the tradition. An Emir must not speak another language other than Hausa to preserve the language as a custodian of the language.

”The place which had been existing for long, when he came he demolished everything and erected another one. How’s he preserving tradition?

“He always goes out to condemn his own people on several issues. An Emir should not do that. He always negative to his own people.

He was also identifying with the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) both within and outside the state.

However, Yakasai noted that the restriction on Sanusi to Nasarawa is indefinite. He can’t be anywhere else aside where he was banished until he’s pardon by the State governor.

Barely 24 hours after he was deposed as the Emir and banished from Kano, Governor Nasir El-Rufa’i of Kaduna State, has appointed Malam Muhammad Sanusi II into the board of the Kaduna Investment Promotion Agency (KADIPA).

A statement from Sir Kashim Ibrahim House said that, “the appointment is part of the reconstitution of the board of KADIPA, which is statutorily chaired by the Deputy Governor, and has as internal members other senior officials of the Kaduna State Government.”

The statement signed by the Special Adviser on Media and Communication to the Governor, Mr Muyiwa Adekeye, said that “Kaduna State hopes to benefit from the profile, experience, intellect and networks of His Highness, Muhammad Sanusi, who before becoming Emir, had built a solid reputation in global financial circles.

According to the statement, “Malam Nasir El-Rufai said that Kaduna State is honoured to be able to call on the services of a man of such calibre to drive its development,’’ the statement added.

The statement which said that El-Rufai has approved the reconstitution of the board of KADIPA, further said that the agency  was established in 2015, and has  led the investment drive of the state and anchored implementation of the Ease of Doing Business Charter that earned Kaduna State recognition as the Number One place for doing business in Nigeria.

According to the statement, Deputy Governor of Kaduna State, Dr Hadiza Balarabe will chair the board while His Highness Muhammadu Sanusi II will be Vice-Chairman.

Other members of the board include Malam Balarabe Abbas Lawal, the Secretary to the State Government, Mr Jimi Lawal, Senior Adviser and Counsellor and Aisha Dikko, the Attorney General of Kaduna State.

The KADIPA board also includes the Head of Service, Hajiya Bariatu Yusuf Mohammed, Commissioner of Business, Innovation and Technology, Idris Nyam, Commissioner of Housing and Urban Development, Fausat Ibikunle and Commissioner, Planning and Budget Commission, Thomas Gyang.

Other board members are the Director-General of Kaduna Geographic Information System(KADGIS), Altine Jibrin, Muhammad Hafiz Bayero, the Managing Director of Kaduna Market Development and Management Company, Farida Dankaka and Umma Aboki, the Executive Secretary of KADIPA.

“The Governor also said that he is confident that the new board, which contains the most senior officers of the state will further propel KADIPA to greater success in attracting investments to Kaduna State.”

The statement disclosed that the government carefully chose the external members to further reinforce the investment credentials of the state.

According to Adekeye, “El-Rufai has expressed his gratitude to members of the reconstituted board of KADIPA for agreeing to serve”.