The Senate on Tuesday dismissed an alleged plot to declare a state of emergency in Kano State over the emirate tussle between Ado Bayero and Muhammad Sanusi II.
The Senate spokesperson, Yemi Adaramodu, told The PUNCH that such a motion was not before the red chamber.
The Senate’s rebuttal came as the Nigerian Bar Association disclosed that its disciplinary committee had received eight memos from the lawyers involved in the Kano Emirate conflicting court orders.
Kano has been enmeshed in a crisis since the reinstatement of Muhammadu Sanusi as the 16th Emir of Kano, following the enactment of the new Kano Emirate Council Law and the deposition of Bayero.
The national leader of the New Nigeria People’s Party, Rabiu Kwankwaso, had alleged that the Federal Government was planning to declare a state of emergency in Kano State.
Kwankwaso, who was the party’s presidential candidate in last year’s general election, alleged that the All Progressives Congress-led Federal Government was taking sides in the Kano emirate tussle.
“Some people from Kano, who are enemies of the state, are the ones advising the Federal Government on how to take over Kano through a state of emergency. This is madness of the highest order that the good, peace-loving, and committed people of Kano will resist,’’ Kwankwaso said.
Similarly, in an interview with Arise Tv, an NNPP chieftain, Buba Galadima, warned President Bola Tinubu to steer clear of Kano politics.
Galadima warned that the President’s involvement in Kano politics could wreck his administration.
He said, “I want to tell the Federal Government, including my friend, President Bola Tinubu, that he should be mindful of Kano politics, it will destroy his Presidency.
“They never agree on any issue and I have an inherent knowledge of how we dealt with the issue of Kano politics during the NPN when I was the youth leader.
“I know some very powerful politicians in Kano, including some rich men who came to meet the President that they should remove Abba Yusuf and nothing will happen.”
However, the Presidency denied the allegation as a mere rumour.
Presidential spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, affirmed that there was no circumstance to warrant an emergency declaration in Kano state.
“There is no truth in it. It is a mere rumour. The Federal Government cannot declare any state of emergency in any state without the involvement of the National Assembly. There is no such plan.
“The National Assembly is in recess. No President can just wake up and declare a state of emergency in any state,’’ Onanuga said.
Reacting to the alleged plot to suspend democratic structures in Kano State, the Senate spokesperson said there was no point discussing the issue.
Senator Adaramodu said, “Declaration of State of Emergency is not before the Senate, so discussing such is unnecessary. The major assignments before us when we resume work after the Salah break are the consideration of the Supplementary Budget and the minimum wage bill. Equally, the issue of Constitutional review and amendment. Also, the electoral laws shall be attended to.”
Efforts to get the House spokesperson, Akin Rotimi, proved abortive as he couldn’t be reached on the phone.
NBA probes lawyers
Speaking on the ongoing NBA probe of the conflicting court orders on the emirate tussle, the Bar association’s Publicity Secretary, Akorede Lawal, disclosed that the NBA Ethics and Disciplinary Committeehad received eight memos from the lawyers involved in the cases.
He said the eight memos were being reviewed.
Following the conflicting court orders that emanated from the Federal High Court in Kano and the Kano State High Courts over the emirate seat tussle, the NBA President, Yakubu Maikyau (SAN), vowed to bring the lawyers involved to book.
Mikyau condemned the act, calling it a show of utter disgrace that had brought the legal profession in Nigeria to ridicule.
While calling on the heads of the courts involved in the cases to immediately look into the matter, he disclosed that the NBA Ethics and Disciplinary Committee had been instructed to probe the lawyers involved.
He said, “Without prejudice to the subsisting actions before both the Federal High Court and the Kano State High Court, it is my considered view that there is an urgent need to scrutinise the professional conduct of both counsel and the judges involved in these matters.
“This is to enable the relevant bodies or institutions to determine their culpability or otherwise, from an ethical and professional standpoint.’’
Giving an update on the probe on Tuesday, Lawal stated, “The process is ongoing. The committee has been set up and the counsel have been ordered to submit their presentation in the spirit of fair hearing. The disciplinary committee has also received responses from all the lawyers involved; they are eight in total.”
APC counters Kwankwaso
Meanwhile, the All Progressives Congress has faulted Kwankwaso and Galadima’s allegations that the Presidency was interfering in Kano politics to compromise its security and ultimately declare a state of emergency.
The ruling party described the allegations as wild and insensitive.
The National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Felix Morka, who reacted to their statements in a statement on Tuesday, cautioned the NNPP chieftains against making unguarded statements.
He noted, “What is wrong with these people? They are playing with fire in Rivers and Kano. Will they be doing this if it was an APC government ruling the states?
“Kwankwaso’s wild and unhinged comments were made concerning the lingering emirate tussle in Kano. We consider Kwankwaso’s comments to be disappointing, highly incendiary and unconscionable for an individual of his standing.
“As a former governor and Minister of Defence, we expect him to demonstrate high-grade discretion. His unguarded utterances are capable of fuelling tension and strife in the good state of Kano.’’
Morka said it was disturbing that Galadima would so casually accuse the Federal Government of attempting to create a new breed of Boko Haram terrorists and insurgents in the state.
“The leader of our party, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is a pan-Nigeria bridge builder for peace, security and unity in our land, and will not, cannot, must not be directly or remotely tainted with a flimsy and unjustifiable allegation of promoting violent crisis in any part of our dear country of which he is the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.
“The situation in Kano State calls for calm as the nation awaits judicial or political resolution of all outstanding matters. The good people of Kano deserve to live in peace, unity and security,” the APC scribe declared.
But the NNPP spokesman, Ladipo Johnson, endorsed the claims made by the two party chieftains.
Johnson stated that the deployment of soldiers to man the palace of the deposed emir and the defiance of the state police commissioner were signs that the Presidency was stoking the crisis in the ancient city.
He said, “Unfortunately, we are left with no option than to assume the words on the streets that the APC and the presidency are fanning the embers of chaos in Kano.
‘’We have no option but to assume that it is true hence the comments coming from us. That is why you see Buba Galadima telling them to be wary of what they are doing.
“That is why you saw Kwankwaso also venting what he said. We will not be held responsible. The citizens of Kano are very politically savvy.
‘’History shows us they know what is going on but the NSA said they are not involved. The President said they are not involved. So who authorised the military and the security forces to be guarding Ado Bayero?’’
The opposition Peoples Democratic Party asserted that the Presidency and the National Chairman of the APC, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, should be held responsible for fuelling the crisis in Kano ostensibly to pave the way for the declaration of a state of emergency in the state.
The PDP Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Ibrahim Abdullahi, who identified a ‘defective system’ as the root cause of the tension in the ancient city, challenged the Tinubu administration to make its position clear on the matter, ‘instead of playing the Ostrich.’
He added, “The National chairman of the party, Abdullahi Ganduje was the governor of Kano who masterminded all these things and he is using his position now to influence things in that respect. But it will amount to nought unless the right thing is done. That evil desire of theirs would fail.
“How can two emirs be presiding over affairs in one domain? It is clear that this position is condoned by the Federal Government and they are trying to do all of these to create a situation of unrest in Kano which would be tantamount, as Buba Galadima says, to the declaration of a state of emergency and an attempt to foist a sole administrator to take control of the state for APC.”
While calling for the law to be respected, the PDP image-maker added that the Kano State Governor, Abba Yusuf, has constitutional powers ‘’to enthrone and dethrone.’’
He stated that just as Sanusi was dethroned by the previous government, the present governor can equally wield such powers.
He continued, “The Constitution is clear about that. If Aminu Ado-Bayero’s tenure has come to an end, which is the case, the Federal Government should come clean about its position and ensure the enforcement of the rule of law.”
Lending his voice to the controversy, human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, noted that the Federal High Court and the National Industrial Court have no jurisdiction to determine chieftaincy matters.
Falana in a statement on Tuesday accused both courts of separately conferring, “jurisdiction on themselves to determine chieftaincy matters.”
Falana described both decisions as “highly erroneous” as they cannot be justified under sections 251 and 254(C) of the Constitution.
He explained that the two courts overruled the judgments of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal on the subject matter.
Falana stated, “The intervention of the Federal High Court in the dispute arising from the deposition of Emir Ado Bayero & co as well as the restoration of Emir Sanusi Lamido Sanusi is a brazen repudiation of the decision of the Supreme Court in the celebrated case of Tukur v Government of Gongola State (1987) 4 NWLR (117) 517 where it was held that “The question raised in this claim is not a fundamental right question.
“As in the first prayer, the right to be emir is not guaranteed by the Fundamental Rights provisions of the Constitution and the Federal High Court has no jurisdiction whatever in the matter.
‘’The Court of Appeal was therefore not in error of law to hold that the Federal High Court has no jurisdiction to grant the two reliefs. Since the apex court has said that the right to be an emir is not a fundamental right under chapter four of the Constitution, the Federal High Court sitting in Kano ought to have declined jurisdiction to continue to entertain the dispute over the chieftaincy matter in Kano.
‘’In any case, the allegation of infringement of the fundamental rights of the applicants is an ancillary claim to the substantive reliefs emanating from the deposition and reinstatement of the embattled emirs.”
In conclusion, Falana submitted that section 254(C)(1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as amended, did not confer jurisdiction on the National Industrial Court to hear and determine chieftaincy matters.
“However, a traditional ruler who was deposed by a state governor without a fair hearing is not without a legal redress,’’ he stressed.
