Former Central Bank of Nigeria governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi’s reinstatement as Emir of Kano has run into a hitch at the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja.
The Court of Appeal in a ruling delivered on Friday by a three-member panel led by Justice Okon Abang halted the enforcement of its January 10 judgment, which upheld the Kano State government’s repeal of the 2019 Emirates Council Law, pending the Supreme Court’s determination of an appeal on the same matter.
The court granted a stay of execution, effectively maintaining the status quo in the ongoing legal tussle over the Kano Emirate dispute.
A Federal High Court sitting in Kano had, in June 2024, nullified the steps taken to reappoint Muhammadu Sanusi II as the 16th Emir of Kano, following an application by Babba-Dan’agundi.
Babba-Dan’agundi sued the Kano State House of Assembly, the Speaker of the Kano State House of Assembly, the Attorney General of Kano State, and security agencies, including the Department of State Services (DSS).
The law promulgated by the state government had repealed the 2019 Emirate Council Law, which established five emirates from the original Kano Emirate under former Governor Abdullahi Ganduje.
Delivering his ruling, Justice Abdullahi Muhammad-Liman of the trial court in Kano declared that all actions carried out by the state government following the passage of the Kano Emirate Council (Repeal) Law 2024 were null and void.
In January 2025, the Appeal Court set aside the judgment of the trial court, which had given a status quo order against the passage of the Emirate bill and ordered the retrial of the case afresh.
