Kwankwaso says Ganduje removed Emir Sanusi because he has an inferiority complex

FORMER Kano State governor Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso has accused his successor Abdullahi Ganduje of removing the Emir of Kano Alhaji Muhammad Sanusi from office because he felt threatened by his intellectual clout.

On March 9, Governor Ganduje removed the emir from office and replaced him with his cousin Alhaji Aminu Ado Bayero. An economist and former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Alhaji Sanusi who had been in office for six years, was very vocal while emir, criticising the lack of government policy in northern Nigeria.

Last week, Governor Ganduje said that the dethroned emir was appointed in 2014 to spite former President Goodluck Jonathan who sacked him as CBN governor. He pointed out that he was the wrong person to have been appointed in the first place, so he corrected the anomaly when he became governor.

Debunking this story, Senator Kwankwaso said that Alhaji Sanusi was dethroned by the governor owing to inferiority complex. According to Senator Kwankwaso, fears of high esteem and calibre alongside the influence Alhaji Sanusi had as emir made Governor Ganduje jittery and as a result, he dethroned him.

Muhammad Inuwa Ali, Senator Kwankwaso's spokesman, said: “It is common knowledge that the emir was too progressive for Governor Ganduje’s liking and that was exactly why after his illegal removal and the dismemberment of the Kano Emirate Council, he appointed emirs that will not question his ill-advised decisions even if they are against the interest of the state and its people. We also know that Ganduje was madly obsessed with reversing everything that Senator Kwankwaso did in the state."

According to Senator Kwankwaso, Governor Ganduje always felt diminished and inferior in the presence of the former Emir. He also alleged that Governor Ganduje harbours a pathological hatred for the Kano Traditional Institution, that was why he had to dethrone Sanusi.

Governor Ganduje, a PhD holder, said he sacked the emir to save the traditional institution from abuse. Senator Kwankwaso said Alhaji Sanusi’s enthronement had nothing to do with former President Goodluck Jonathan.