The Court of Appeal in Abuja has put a stop to the reinstatement of Alhaji Muhammadu Sanusi II as the Emir of Kano.
On Friday, a three-member panel of justices led by Justice Okon Abang unanimously granted a stay on the implementation of a January 10 judgment that had overturned the nullification of Sanusi II’s appointment by a Kano State High Court, which the panel ruled had acted without jurisdiction.
Justice Gabriel Kolawole, in his earlier judgment, determined that the nullification of Sanusi II’s appointment lacked the necessary legal authority and ordered the case to be transferred to the Kano State High Court.
However, in reviewing the new applications numbered CA/KN/27M/2025 and CA/KN/28M/2025, the appellate court found the requests to suspend enforcement of the previous ruling pending an appeal to the Supreme Court to be both competent and well-founded.
“The law is clear. The court must exercise its discretion wisely and in the interests of justice,” stated Justice Abang.
He further emphasised the need to preserve the subject matter, noting that the applicant had served as emir for five years prior to his removal and was entitled to protection.
On January 10, Justice Kolawole, in vacating the restraining order against Sanusi II, underscored that the issue at hand, being a chieftaincy dispute, should have been adjudicated by the Kano State High Court rather than the Federal High Court, which he labelled as “a grave error.”
The Federal High Court in Kano, presided over by Justice Abubakar Liman, had, on June 20, 2024, nullified the Kano State Government’s Kano Emirates Council (Repeal) Law 2024, leading to Muhammadu Sanusi II’s reinstatement as the 16th Emir.
In a fundamental rights enforcement suit initiated by Aminu Baba-Dan’Agundi, the presiding judge also instructed all parties, including the Kano State House of Assembly, to uphold the status quo during Emir Ado Bayero’s reign.
Nevertheless, the appellate court, in its ruling, referenced Section 251 of the Nigerian Constitution and Section 22(2) of the Federal High Court Act, asserting that the matter was a chieftaincy and state legislative dispute, not a fundamental rights case, which should have been heard by either the Kano State High Court or the FCT High Court.
“The appropriate course of action is to direct the 1st respondent (Baba-Dan’Agundi) to transfer the pending suit before the Federal High Court to the Kano State High Court, where the chief judge shall assign it to a judge who has not previously been involved in the case,” he stated.
The court ordered Baba-Dan’Agundi to pay costs amounting to N500,000 to the Kano State House of Assembly.
However, following the deliberations of the presiding justices, Justice Mohammed Mustapha and Justice Abdul Dogo concluded that the correct procedure was to dismiss Dan’Agundi’s suit filed at the Federal High Court rather than transfer it. Consequently, the matter was struck out.
The five appeals, namely CA/KN/126/2024 (between the state assembly and Dan’Agundi), CA/ABJ/140/2023 (state assembly and Dan’Agundi), CA/ABJ/142/2024 (Kano State Government and Dan’Agundi), CA/KN/200/2024 (Alhaji Aminu Ado Bayero and Attorney General of Kano State), and CA/KN/161/2020 (Kano Government and Dan’Agundi), stemmed from the same underlying issue before the Federal High Court.
