SAN FRANCISCO, December 06, (THEWILL) – A Kano-based pro-democracy group, Coalition for Democratic Norms, CODEM, has warned the Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi to desist from his incessant attacks on the government of President Muhammadu Buhari to avoid unnecessary consequences.
The group, in a statement jointly signed by its National Coordinator, Balla Abbe Kazaure and General Secretary, Usman Dan Numa Gazkiya, noted that, “Emir Sanusi, going by his position must have had several open channels to get to the presidency to ventilate his ideas on economy than attacking the seat of power openly”.
CODEM maintained that the Emir seemed not to learn from history that those who live in a glass house should not throw stone, asserting that, “no emirship has the capacity to defend any glass house when the act of throwing stones bumerangs”.
Conceding that anybody has the right to advise or criticise the government, the group however warned that it was not when such a person is vulnerable, saying: “Powerful traditional rulers like Sultan Dasuki and Emir Jokolo were all stripped of their titles in ONE day; no processes, nothing. That’s how ‘useless’ the traditional authority is in our present arrangement.”
The statement reads in part: “As it is, the position of an emir is too vulnerable to guarantee the comfort of public commentary, especially making a career out of acerbic take on government policies.
“Emir Sanusi’s own grandfather was only casually invited to Kaduna in 1963. On arriving the governor’s office, Sir Kashim Ibrahim drew out a prepared letter of resignation alongside the report of DJM Muffet report of inquiry into Kano Native Authority finances, he was advised to sign the letter. He did. “He went into the office as an emir with all the paraphernalia and emerged out of it as a “retired” emir. He was immediately exiled to Azare, in present day Bauchi state.”
Reminding Sanusi that, “he was the CBN governor only recently,” CODEM reminded him that, “if the government wants, it could get proverbially a thousand and one things to use against him.”
The group cited issues of Financial Reporting Council report, Forex Management under him as well as bailout for banks as example, adding that “It is like the case of someone in the glass house and the emirship can’t fortify that glass house”.
CODEM ended by warning that, “emir’s closeness to Bola Tinubu, Bukola Saraki and Nasir el-Rufai can be miscontrued to mean conspiracy against the government towards 2019.”
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