JONATHAN BOWS TO PRESSURE OVER SANUSI Category: Lead stories Published on Friday, 13 June 2014 05:02 Written by Ismail Mudashir, Abdulkadir Badsha Mukhtar & Haruna Gimba Yaya, Kano Hits: 16712 Emir of Kano Sanusi Lamido Sanusi with the Madakin Kano, Yusuf Nabahani Cigari, and other palace aides in Kano yesterday .Police end Kano palace siege .New emir may relocate today President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday bowed to pressure to allow for the reopening of the Kano Emir’s Palace, which had been under siege by security forces following Lamido Sanusi’s appointment as new emir on Sunday. Daily Trust learnt in Kano that top Northern elders mounted pressure on the president, and drew his attention to the dangers of keeping the palace sealed indefinitely. Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso had alleged on Wednesday that President Jonathan ordered the blockade on the palace so as to prevent Sanusi from relocating there. The police had denied this, saying they were only protecting the palace from hoodlums. Following the pressure on the president, soldiers and policemen who had been stationed at the palace since Tuesday morning were withdrawn around 6.30pm yesterday. A Daily Trust correspondent, who visited the palace around 7.30pm, reported that vehicles were now driving in and out of the palace, as against what was obtainable during the siege. Security sources said some of the security men who had been deployed from Jigawa State to join the palace siege have now returned to their posts, and those from Kano have also moved back to their respective formations. Earlier yesterday, a prominent northern elder statesman told Daily Trust in Kano that they were trying to persuade the president to shift ground and withdraw security men from the palace in order to allow Lamido Sanusi to relocate there. “I’m involved in finding solution to the problem. Right now the president is being persuaded to allow the relocation of the new emir to enter the palace tomorrow (today),” he said, asking not to be named. The palace was sealed just when Sanusi was to relocate there on Tuesday, in line with tradition. The new emir had since been holding court at the Government House, which was being guarded by vigilantes and Hisbah men, following the reduction in number of security forces stationed there. With the removal of the security blockade yesterday, Sanusi may relocate today, palace and government sources told Daily Trust. “You know the new emir is staying in government house because of the sealing of the palace and since they have opened it, he may move today,” a source said. ‘None of Jonathan’s business’ In his reaction to the sealing of the palace, elder statesman Alhaji Bashir Othman Tofa yesterday described the action as unpatriotic. “What people are saying in town is that the Federal Government is causing chaos in Kano so that President Jonathan can declare state of emergency. Which means they do not care about people lives, they do not care about peace of this country and they do not even care that this man was democratically selected, nominated and appointed,” he said. “I think if that (the chaos plot) is true it is very stupid and unpatriotic. Things like this can easily escalate to other states because some hooligans can attack innocent people and they may attack other areas like Sabon Gari and they can attack anywhere they like and we don’t know how this can conflagrate the entire state, region and even the country at large. If it is true, it is very dangerous thing they are carrying on.” For his part, Dr. Junaidu Mohammed said the Federal Government has no business in the issue. “It is none of the business of the president to interfere unless there is imminent collapse of law and order…. And it will be honestly unfit to seal the palace because the palace doesn’t belong to the Federal Government. The palace is owned by Kano State people through the Kano State Emirate Council,” he said. Former Kaduna State governor Abdulkadir Balarabe Musa also spoke on the issue, saying under the constitution the president has no right in the appointment of a ruler of traditional rulers. “It is the responsibility of the governor of the state. Even the governor, his responsibility is to choose one out of the three recommended by the kingmakers of the emirate. Why should the president be involved in the appointment of the Kano emir? Or oppose anybody who is appointed as the Kano emir? So the problem is that he is making the insecurity problem more,” he said. Meanwhile, the seventh-day prayers for late Emir Ado Bayero would be held today at the Government House. Kwnakwaso’s spokesman Halilu Ibrahim Dantiye said clerics from across the state have been invited to offer prayers for the late emir. He said also Emir Lamido Sanusi would lead the Juma’at prayer at the Government House.
Posted on: Fri, 13 Jun 2014 10:44:04 +0000
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