By Seyi Babalola
In order to keep the state’s law and order from collapsing, Kano State Governor Abba Yusuf has said that he gave the order to arrest Aminu Ado-Bayero, the deposed Emir of Kano.
Ado Bayero’s choice to return to Kano State two days after his dethronement, according to Yusuf, created a security concern, which is why his detention was ordered.
He was reacting to an article, “A Rendezvous with Recklessness and Executive Rascality,” by Bala Ibrahim, who accused him of rascality and recklessness in power.
Sanusi Bature, the governor’s spokesperson, said that the governor’s authority to dissolve the emirates established by his predecessor, Abdullahi Ganduje, came from the repeal of the 2019 Kano Emirate Law.
The state government was recently compelled to compensate Bayero N10 million by the Kano Federal High Court for violating his fundamental rights, personal liberty, and freedom of movement.
Judge Simon Amobeda found that Yusuf was improper to order Bayero’s detention without a valid reason, citing Sections 35(1) and 41(1) of the 1999 Constitution. He said that this drove the applicant into house arrest out of fear of being detained.
Reacting via a statement, Bature said: “Does Bala Ibrahim actually understand the workings of government and governance? I do not want to go into judicial pronouncements, but the point I want to make clear is that the issue of Kano Emirship is straightforward with the repeal of the Kano Emirate Law (2019) and enactment of the Kano Emirate Law (2024), which gave Governor Yusuf the power to abolish the five emirates and return Kano to its glorious and historic position as one emirate.
“This is the wish of the people of Kano State. The reappointment of Emir Muhammadu Sanusi II did not also come to anyone as a surprise, because his dethronement (and consequent banishment) by Abdullahi Ganduje and his co-travellers was done out of malice.
“Now, calling for the arrest of dethroned Emir Aminu Bayero was only done for the public good, as his entrance into Kano shortly after his dethronement posed a serious security threat which is being managed up till today. Governor Abba Yusuf remains the Chief Security Officer of Kano State, and no sane leader would fold his arms and watch Kano snowball into a state of anarchy without taking action.”
