Kano re-opens probe into Emirate Council’s expenditure

Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-corruption Commission has reopened the investigation into the expenditure of the state emirate council under Sanusi II.

This is even as the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Kabiru Rurum, also yesterday at plenary, read a letter from one Ibrahim Salisu and others, seeking the creation of new Kano emirates in Karaye, Bichi, Rano, and Gaya.

“The governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, is determined to remove the emir, and if this does not succeed, he will break the emirate into pieces to whittle down Sanusi’s power,” an official of the state government told online portal, TheCable, last night.

Ironically, Ganjude’s move to break the emirate into smaller units will mirror what Abiola Ajimobi, outgoing governor of Oyo State, did to the Olubadan of Ibadan, Saliu Adetunji, whose authority Ajimobi sought to decimate by approving 21 beaded kings for Ibadan.

Ganjude and Ajimobi are in-laws.

Sanusi II’s problem with Ganduje is usually traced to his critical comments in 2017 on the award of contracts to Chinese companies by the state government and on the governor’s foreign trips.

Shortly after the comment, Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission alleged misappropriation of N6 billion by the Kano Emirate Council “without the approval of the state government.”

The probe was halted then, but it has now been revived.

Sanusi II is believed to have opposed the re-election of Ganduje, who needed a disputed supplementary election to be returned to office in the March governorship election.

In a letter dated May 2, the state anti-graft commission invited one Isa Bayero to appear before it to shed light on the payment vouchers from 2013 to 2017 in his name.

Other officers in the emirate council to be quizzed include Mohammad Kwaru, the Accountant, Mannir Sanusi, Chief of Staff, Danburan Mujittafa and Falakin Kano.

The letter said the commission was inviting them over alleged violation of Section 26 of its enabling law in the management of the emirate’s funds and that the invitation was sequel to power conferred on it under “Section 9 and 15 of Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-corruption Commission Law 2008 (as amended).”

Sanusi II was appointed the 14th emir in 2014 after his suspension from office as governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) by former President Goodluck Jonathan.