A former senator who represented Kaduna Central Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Comrade Shehu Sani, has offered a way out of the Kano Emirate logjam, suggesting a football match between the two contending parties instead of the ongoing judicial process.
He asked both Emir Muhammadu Sanusi II and Emir Aminu Ado Bayero to withdraw their cases from the courts and opt for the football field to determine who occupies the throne.
The former lawmaker, in his usual satirical posts on Facebook on Thursday, said the eventual winner of the soccer match should automatically take the Kano throne.
Senator Shehu Sani wrote: “His Highness Aminu Bayero and His Highness Sanusi should withdraw their case in court. Both should select football players from Kano for their teams and play a match in the Sani Abacha Stadium.
“The two contending emirs should be captains of their team. I can volunteer as a referee since I have some maternal and paternal relations in Bebeji and Bichi (Danzabuwa). Whoever emerges as the winner between Team Aminu FC and Team Sanusi FC automatically becomes the emir.
Nagode.”
The two prominent Kano indigenes have been locked in a titanic legal battle over the rightful occupant of the Kano Emirship. However, In a judgment on Friday, 10 January 2025, a three-member panel of justices of the Court of Appeal led by Mohammed Mustapha declared that the verdict of a lower court on 20 June 2024 was flawed and violated the principles of fair hearing.
The appellate court overturned the Federal High Court decision that invalidated the Kano State Emirates Council (Repeal) Law 2024, which facilitated the reappointment of Sanusi Lamido Sanusi as the Emir of Kano.
The appellate court held that the Federal High Court lacked jurisdiction to nullify actions taken by the Kano State Government under the law. The law, enacted by the Kano State House of Assembly and signed by Governor Abba Yusuf on 23 May 2024, abolished multiple emirates created by former Governor Abdullahi Ganduje and reinstated a unified Kano Emirate.
Subsequently, Yusuf reappointed Sanusi as the Emir while demoting other emirs to district heads. The changes were contested by Alhaji Aminu Babba Dan Agundi, a kingmaker, who filed a fundamental rights enforcement suit. The Federal High Court initially ruled in Agundi’s favour, maintaining the status quo and nullifying the reappointment of Sanusi.
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