By Rabiu Sanusi
…..You don’t need to be told or to wear binoculars to see that His Royal Majesty Muhammadu Sanusi II is the current Emir of Kano.
Apart from the fact that all the district heads across the 44 local government areas of Kano, the council chairmen, commissioners and well meaning Kano people and Nigerians consider him as the one on the throne, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has also identified with 16th emir of Kano.
Nothing explains this fact more than what could be deduced from the ongoing NBA’s annual conference attended by Muhammadu Sanusi II. The recognition accorded him by the legal practitioners of our land tells it all.
The conference, held at Amani Event Centre, Kano, which had in attendance the President of National Industrial Court of Nigeria, Hon. Justice Benedict Bakwaph Kanyip, NBA President, Yakubu Maikyau, SAN, Chief Judge of Kano State, Justice Dije Aboki and other legal luminaries, is the first NBA’s annual conference for the entire northern region.
Given the significance of this gathering, the NBA officially invited Emir Sanusi, to not just attend, but to also render his royal blessing and address the participants. You don’t need to ask why Aminu Ado Bayero was not invited. The 15th emir is dethroned by the new Kano chieftaincy (repealed) law 2024 and he has since packed all his belongings and vacated the palace.
Speaking through his representative, Mahe Bashir Wali (the Walin Kano), Emir Sanusi welcomed the participants warmly and told them that Kano has a long enviable history as a cultural and commercial nerve centre of the northern region.
Emir Sanusi said the theme of the conference: ‘Administration of Justice in Nigeria: Challenges and Reforms,’ was apt as it was only when there is justice in the land that the society can have peace, which is the prerequisite for progress and develop.
For the State Governor, Engr. Abba Kabir Yusuf, it was a good opportunity to challenge the NBA members on the conflicting court orders given on the Kano emirate tussle when the case is purely a state affair.
The governor, who was represented at the conference by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Abdullahi Bappa Bichi, told the legal practitioners to always tell their clients the truth when they bring a bad case, even when the truth is bitter, rather than insisting to satisfy their clients by carrying out what is not within the ambit of the law.
That is why, to overcome the challenges confronting the administration of justice in Nigeria, the Governor said we must uphold the rule of law and make comprehensive judicial reforms.
