There is heavy security presence at the Gidan Rumfa Emir’s Palace in Kano Friday morning, reports have confirmed to Nigerian Sketch.
Security operatives reportedly blocked the entrance to the palace, preventing Emir Muhammad Sanusi II from attending a royal event.
The security operatives include policemen, soldiers and men of the DSS.
This incident highlights ongoing tensions surrounding the emir, who was deposed in March 2020 amid political controversies and was reinstalled in equally controversial manner by the current state governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf
A News Point Nigeria source said the Emir Sanusi was scheduled to attend a staff presentation ceremony to a new District Head of Bichi Friday morning.
But, according to the source, Emir Sanusi was asked to remain indoors by heavily armed security operatives who blocked the entrance and exit paths of the palace with armoured.
The source said the Emir has been on the phone and is trying to find out why he was denied right to movement.
The emir was said to have informed Kano State governor of the development, but the governor has been unable to resolve the matter.
In fact, people sent by the governor to meet with the emir at the palace were denied entrance.
The emir was said to have reached out to prominent Nigerians like the Sultan of Sokoto, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida and others.
Nigerian Sketch was reliably informed that the blockage was made to frustrate the planned ceremony in Bichi, and that has informed the decision to barricade the Bichi district palace as well, for stalling any possibility to carry out the ceremony even in Sanusi’s absence.
Emir Sanusi has been involved in emirship tussle with Emir Aminu Ado Bayero who replaced him when he was dethroned by the previous government.
While Governor Yusuf, who reinstalled Sanusi earlier this year, has continued to recognize him, a court order appears to have put his retirement in abeyance, even though court pronouncements have complicated the whole emirship tussle.
Not less that two cases on the emirship issue are still pending in different courts as of the time this incident was reported, and a source from one of the courts said the emir was restricted because he was seen to have been carrying out activities that tend to suggest disrespect for the pending courts cases.
Nigerian Sketch
