There
was an atmosphere of tension today in the ancient city of Kano as rumors spread
that President Goodluck Jonathan has decided to arrest newly installed Emir Of
Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, thus effectively reversing the decision of Governor
Rabiu Kwankwaso who picked Sanusi for the throne.
A section of Kano indigenes who are displeased by the governor’s
decision went wild with jubilation tonight as rumors spread through the city
that Mr. Jonathan had finalized plans to remove the new traditional ruler and
detain him. Mr. Sanusi, the immediate past Governor of the Central Bank of
Nigeria, is deemed as a political foe of President Jonathan. The two men
disagreed over whether billions of dollars in oil export earnings had been
stolen. Mr. Jonathan suspended Mr. Sanusi from the CBN after the nation’s
banker accused officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)
of failing to deposit oil revenues worth more than $20 billion in the Central
Bank.
Last week, following the death of 84-year-old former Emir, Ado
Bayero, Governor Kwankwaso tipped Mr. Sanusi to be the new emir.
A jubilant crowd massed around the emir’s palace in anticipation
of the official announcement of the president’s action.
SaharaReporters learned that Governor Kwankwaso is currently in
Abuja to attend the convention of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
A source close to the governor accused the Presidency of
orchestrating the rumor about Mr. Sanusi’s ostensibly removal. “This whole
rumor was calculated to cause a new set of rioting in Kano,” said the source.
He added that Mr. Jonathan and his cronies had designed a plot to create
destabilization in Kano in order to give the president a pretext to declare a
state of emergency in Kano.
President Jonathan has yet to congratulate Mr. Sanusi on
his appointment as the new emir.
Prior
to Mr. Sanusi’s elevation to emir, there had been rumors that the kingmakers of
Kano had chosen one of the sons of the late Ado Bayero as the new Emir. Some of
the rumors were linked to Presidency and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
The Presidency went as far as cloning a twitter account in the name of the
former CBN governor and used it to create the impression that Mr. Sanusi had
announced a new Emir.