Ex-Emir Sanusi’s banishment from Kano reversed by Court

On Tuesday, a reprieve came for a dethroned Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, when a Federal High Court in Abuja declared as unlawful and a violation of his fundamental human rights, his banishment from Kano and forceful relocation to Awe in Nasarawa State.

Delivering her judgment, Justice Anwuli Chikere held that the manner Sanusi was forcefully removed from the palace in March 2020 after his dethronement and taken by security operatives on the directive of the Kano State government to Nasarawa State against his will was a vicious violation of his rights to personal liberty and freedom of movement.

The judge, who declared as a nullity, the Emirate Council Law 2019 under which the Kano State government claimed to have acted, held that as a citizen of Nigeria, who has committed no offence, Sanusi was entitled to reside in any part of the country.

Justice Chikere awarded N10 milion damages against the Kano State Government, the Inspector General of Police and the Department of State Services.

She also ordered them to tender public apology to Sanusi in at least, two national dailies.

Although the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), was joined as the fourth respondent, Justice Chikere excluded the AGF from the suit on the grounds that the applicant failed to establish his case against him.

Sanusi is a member of the Dabo dynasty and was emir of the ancient city-state of Kano. He was born in Kano in 1961 into the royal family as the grandson of Muhammadu Sanusi I.