The steps taken against Muhammadu Sanusi II’s restoration as the 16th Emir of Kano were overturned by the Court of Appeal in Abuja on Tuesday.
After noting that the case record had been sent to the Supreme Court, the appellate court advised all parties involved to proceed with care until their appeals were heard by the highest court.
The Kano State Government’s plea was withdrawn after the appeal record was forwarded to the Supreme Court, according to a unanimous decision made by a three-member panel of judges chaired by Justice Biobele Abraham Georgewill.
Ibrahim Wangida, the Kano State Government’s counsel, alerted the court to a notice of appeal against the stay of execution given on Friday, March 14, 2025, at the reopened hearing on the enforcement of its previous rulings.
Wangida said that the appeal record had been forwarded to the Supreme Court and that all other legal procedures had been completed.
According to recognised legal standards, the transfer of the appeal record to the Supreme Court implicitly serves as a stay of any further action regarding the March 14, 2025, Court of Appeal judgment.
Justice Abang, on Friday, March 14, 2025, ordered a stay of execution on an earlier judgment that validated the reinstatement of Sanusi II as the 16th Emir of Kano.
The judge also directed all parties to maintain the status quo ante bellum, as well as the sheriffs of both the Court of Appeal and the trial court, reverting to the situation before the trial court’s ruling delivered on June 13, 2024, in Suit No. FHC/KN/CS/182/2024.
Dissatisfied with Justice Abang’s ruling, counsel for the Kano State Government, Wangida, argued that the March 14 ruling constituted a grave error in interpreting constitutional provisions.
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He maintained that an appeal had already been filed before the Supreme Court.
Responding to the notice of appeal, counsel for the appellant, Abdul Fagge (SAN), did not object, stating that the respondent acted within constitutional provisions.
The Kano State Government reinstated Sanusi II as the 16th Emir of Kano following the passage of the Kano State Emirate Council (Repeal) Law 2024.
The same law deposed Aminu Ado Bayero as the 15th Emir, along with four first-class emirs appointed by former Governor Abdullahi Ganduje.
Bayero, however, returned and took up residence at the Nassarawa mini palace in Kano under heavy security protection while legally challenging his removal by the state government.
