Reinstatement of deposed Emir is illegal, unacceptable – Barrister Yakubu

 Managing Partner, Dickson Yakubu and Associate, Barrister Dickson Yakubu, spoke with Caleb Oheari on the reinstatement of the deposed Emir of Kano State. He is saying that it is illegal and wouldn’t be accepted.

As a lawyer, what is your opinion on the reinstatement of the former Emir of Kano, Alhaji Sanusi Lamindo Sanusi after four years of deposition from the throne?

When you say reinstate an emir or king who was deposed. Once you are deposed, you are deposed. The issue of reinstating shouldn’t come in because by that act you are turning the system. Why do I say that, how long has he been deposed, he was deposed for more than a political circle of four years. Precise government is a continual, if your predecessor has taken action, abide by it, respect it, but now, connote of getting even. Before this time, because this was not the first act of getting even the issue of destruction and demolition of infrastructure purportedly owned or built by the previous administration has been there and it is lingering. The issue of going after the former governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje on the dollar bribing is still around.  Is the government under the leadership of Abba Kabir Yusuf, trying to get back to the former governor? Again the word reinstating doesn’t make any sense because when you say someone has been deposed, there is no vacuum to come in.

Are you saying that it is illegal for the current government to reinstate Alhaji Sanusi back to the throne?

It is illegal and done for selfish political reasons. It is a way to get the former governor. There is so much on the ground to be done than bringing back these old stories people have forgotten.

There is insinuation that apart from the current Kano government interest, Alhaji Sanusi is a very good friend to President Bola Tinubu and there might be a Federal Government connection in reinstating him back to the throne. What do you have to say about such development?

I tried to make a connection to such development but then, Alhaji Sanusi is very good friends with the president as it is. The questions are what political parties are in power at the state and federal levels? All Progressive Congress (APC) is at the federal level, and the New Nigeria People Party (NNPP) is at the state level. How would the state government of different political parties want to satisfy the issue of the Presidency in different political parties to its detriment? Because the current National Chairman of the ruling party was the one who deposed Alhaji Sanusi as a governor.

What is your advice to the Kano State governor for reinstating the deposed Emir?

The action of the governor was not taken in good faith and he ought not to have done that reinstatement of a deposed Emir for the sake of peace. When you talk about governance, it is about the people, and the question is, was there any consensus or poll taken by the ordinary citizens of the state before the reinstatement?

We learned that the act of Alhaji Sanusi’s reinstatement was amended by the State House of Assembly. Meaning that the decision was the choice of the people?

In Nigeria, the State House of Assembly is controlled by the executive governor of the state. I can tell you authoritatively that all the 36 states of the federation house of assemblies are controlled by the executive governors, they don’t have any voice of their own. They are all puppets, even at the centre. The relationship between Nigeria’s State House of Assemblies is like the paymasters and puppets. What happened in Kano State is not good advice and it shows that the current government in the state is not independent.

You are looking at the relationship between the State House of Assemblies and Executive Governors. What is your take on what is going on in the Rivers State?

Also, in the Rivers State issue of the puppet his string has been cut off and he wants to ascertain himself from the puppet’s master.  It happened in all the federation states including Lagos, and others. But, sadly, the former governor, Nyesom  Wike, now minister of the federal government, wants to control two political spaces, which isn’t impossible. I had experience in Rivers State a few years ago, I was in the Harcourt Airport and couldn’t disembark. The EFCC wants to arrest the current governor of Rivers State, Siminalayi Fubara, who was then the Accountant–General of the state under the leadership of Wike. If not for the intervention of Wike the then-governor, he would have been arrested. What happened was the puppet have cut the bond of the master. Not many people know how to play with power but this young man undertook the dynamics of power and his ascertaining himself, particularly in an oil-rich state. It is going to be one big fight which at the end of the day, the man who is in power will have the day.

The Rivers State governor has vowed to probe the former governor Wike and what is your take on it?

He is probing himself because he was part and parcel of the Wike government. He can’t separate himself from the immediate past government.