40 security men keep Sanusi under watch

The Attorney-General of Kano State, Ibrahim Muktar, on Wednesday said the state government did not banish the deposed Emir of Kano, Alhaji  Muhammadu  Sanusi II.

Muktar said the state government was clear in its press statement on Monday that Sanusi was deposed, but never made any reference to any banishment.

The Kano AG said this on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme on Wednesday.

Muktar said this just as security was on Wednesday  beefed up in a compound, where Sanusi is being detained in Awe town in the Awe Local Government Area of Nasarawa State.

The Kano  State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, had on Monday deposed Sanusi because of what the state government called “total disrespect  to lawful instructions from the office of the state government.”

On Monday, the dethroned monarch  was  banished to Loko, a remote location in Nasarawa State. On Tuesday,  he was  relocated  to Awe.

Sanusi’s legal team, led by a former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Abubakar Balarabe-Mahmoud,  on Tuesday asked the government to release Sanusi or face a legal action.

The lawyers, who described Sanusi’s banishment and detention as illegal, alleged that the deposed Emir was being subjected to maximum stress and trauma.

But on Wednesday, the Kano State attorney general   said the state government did not banish  Sanusi.

He said, “If you listen to the Secretary to the State Government when he was addressing the press on the issue of the removal of the emir from office, there was nowhere he stated that the emir was banished from Kano State.

“So, the decision of the government when the emir was removed on Monday was that he was removed from office and a new one appointed. The issue of banishment was not part of the decision of the Kano State Government.

“We have been hearing from the media that he has been banished but what I know is that he was taken out of Kano State, but banishment was not part of our decision. There is no such decision to the best of my knowledge.”

Muktar said security agents decided to whisk Sanusi away from Kano State due to intelligence reports they had.

He said it was a normal practice for deposed emirs to be moved away to maintain peace in the state, adding that such an action was not in contravention of the constitution, which guarantees freedom of movement.

The AG further stated that Sanusi was not removed because of the corruption probe, but strictly because of insubordination.

Sanusi has been in Nasarawa State since his removal on Monday and has been denied access to visitors, according to his lawyers.

Meanwhile, security was  on Wednesday beefed up  in a compound, where the Emir is being detained  at Awe town in Nasarawa State.

No fewer than  40 security agents, including policemen, personnel of the Department of State Services and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, were deployed in the compound, which has three houses.

One of Punch correspondents, who visited Awe counted no fewer than 40 policemen guarding the compound.

– Punch