By Idris Ahmed, Abuja
The Presidency has outlined the fruitless efforts made by President Muhammad’ Buhari to save Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi from being dethroned as the Emir of Kano, revealing that at a point, he threatened to impose a state of emergency on the state as a result of the feud between Governor Umar Ganduje and Sanusi.
A top presidency source disclosed in Abuja on Saturday that Buhari’s intervention led to the setting up of the different reconciliation committees whose efforts came to nought.
The Presidency blamed the intransigence of both sides of the conflict for the way it turned out.
The revelations came after the Presidency had previously denied that Buhari had anything to do with the dethronement of Sanusi.
According to the Presidency source, contrary to allegations of collusion to remove former Emir Sanusi from office, the presidency had intervened at many stages of the conflict to avoid escalation in the last two years “but the efforts collapsed because of the intransigence of the two sides to shift ground.”
The source informed State House correspondents that Ganduje made up his mind to remove Sanusi as far back as 2017, saying: “the governor informed President Buhari of this decision.”
The source explained: “He, however, asked for advice and guidance. Outrightly, President Buhari said it was inappropriate and requested that the plan be shelved.”
This meeting was followed with a written letter to the governor dated November 17, 2017, in which the President’s advice was clearly stated.
“The President directed his Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari, to follow up for a peaceful resolution of the crisis of confidence between the two.
“This led to the setting up a committee made up of five state governors led by that of Ekiti State, Dr Kayode Fayemi. They did their best. Calm returned but occasional flare-ups continued and were aggravated by the tense situations under which the governor re-emerged for his second term in the 2019 general elections.
“In the course of that period, Governor Fayemi, his Jigawa State counterpart, Abubakar Badaru and to some extent the Inspector General of Police made several expeditions to Kano to prevail on the governor not to remove the Emir in those tense moments in the interest of peace and security. The main grouse of the administration was that the Emir had failed to stay above the fray of partisan politics, especially as it related to the governor’s re-election.
“In reaction to the various suggestions by senior citizens including Generals Babangida, Wushishi and Abdulsalami Abubakar, among others, the Chief of Staff sought for permission and gave the green light for the commencement of work by the Abdulsalami Abubakar committee.
“The committee members sat down with the President at the Villa to discuss their mission.
“At this meeting, the President outlined the efforts he put into the resolution of the conflict in Kano and said he had had enough.
“He gave assurances of support and put at their disposal, the use of the Presidential aircraft, then wished them the best of luck. But he did make clear that if the situation warranted it, we would not hesitate to clamp an emergency rule on the state.
“Governor Ganduje gave conditions for peace, including the withdrawal of court cases by Emir Sanusi against the Kano State Government. Sanusi allegedly accepted to withdraw some of the cases, but stood his ground on the others, including his refusal to withdraw a court case instituted by Bashir Tofa and his group, who the state government alleged to be Sanusi’s proxy in the case.
“The governor insisted that the newly-created emirates must be kept, but acceded to the Emir that four of the five kingmakers whose districts were excised from Kano be reinstated. The Emir agreed not to appeal the decision to uphold the Emirates by the courts.
“It was clear all this while that the inflexibility to meet some of the conditions for peace by both have added complications that made peace almo
