TheCable

Tanko Yakasai, elder statesman and a founding member of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), has alleged that Muhammadu Sanusi II, dethroned emir of Kano, pledged allegiance to Rabiu Kwankwaso, instead of Abdullahi Ganduje, incumbent governor.

Kwankwaso, the immediate past governor of Kano, had appointed Sanusi as an emir in 2014. Ganduje was deputy governor of the state at the time.

In an interview with PUNCH, Yakasai said Sanusi’s trouble began when Ganduje and Kwakwanso fell apart.

“But unfortunately for him, in-between the time he was appointed and subsequent events, when the two people who appointed him parted ways on party basis, the deputy now became the governor and I think in my opinion, I don’t think the emir sees the deputy as the man, who appointed him,” he said.  

“That is what I see as the beginning of the crisis. Later on, the emir has been speaking his mind, which I respected but some of what he says were not in consonance with the established tradition in the society. He has not been part and parcel of that society he originated from. So, this is the problem.” 

Yakasai said Sanusi was not brought up in Kano and that might have contributed to the problems he had while on the throne. 

“I was born here in Kano and I know the tradition in the palace. Since when I was young till today, (the tradition) is that both educated and uneducated emirs tend not to speak too much,” he said. 

“They treasure their words. The emir (Sanusi) was born in Kano, but he was largely brought up in Lagos and Kaduna. His father was a federal civil servant who rose to the position of a Permanent Secretary. 

“As it is natural with civil servants, particularly at the federal level in foreign affairs, they don’t stay in one place. The result is that the emir was initially living with the late minister of defence, Alhaji Inuwa Wada, but later when the father was back, they changed him. The emir is only a Kano man; he did not live alongside Kano people until he mounted the throne. That was the beginning.” 

As emir, Sanusi had criticised government policies in the open, but Yakasai said that people who go to those in authority to offer their advice privately tend to achieve more success. 

“They tend to meet the listening ears of those in authority,” he said.  

“But for people who go to the media or the public place to air their views, those in authority would think they are playing to the gallery and are not being honest about their views.”