Sanusi’ Coronation As Emir: Schools Shut In Kano, Military Bans Private Jets From MAKIA

Hundreds of protesters have continued to protest the emergence of the immediate past Central Bank Governor, Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi as the new Emir of Kano, Northwest Nigeria.
The youths in their hundreds made bonfires on Emir palace road on Monday. Motorists were forced to hold green leaves while chanting “bamuayi.”
A number of schools remain shut in the city while additional security was noticed in bank premises.
Although the protests were concentrated within the old city, city dwellers avoided the streets.
In Sabon Gari, a predominantly Christian quarters, business activities suffered hiccup as most shops remained closed for fear of looting by protesters.
However, there was a beehive of activities at government offices with civil servants at their duty posts.
Few minutes after his announcement as the new Emir of Kano yesterday, residents went wild, torching some houses and cars within Kano city. The protesters marched from the city through Kofar Nasarawa into the state road. They later moved towards Government House where they were stopped by security guards.
Vehicular movements were interrupted for hours in Kano city and vehicles
and tricycles had to display green leaves to show solidarity with the protesters.
Following the protests, most parents became apprehensive and refused to take their children to school while the authorities of most schools decided to shut down.
Commenting on the protests, Police Public Relations Officer in Kano, ASP Magaji Musa Majia, said, “yes, we have some security challenges at hand but we have deployed counter measures to address them.”
The new emir made his first official appearance at the Kano Government House on Monday. He paid homage to the state Governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso.
He said peace and stability will be his watchwords during his reign, adding that his policies and decisions will be guided by Islamic tenet.
Sanusi also received his appointment letter from the Kano State Government on Monday, according to the spokesman of Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso, Baba Dantiye.
“He received his appointment letter and other traditional staff this morning. What is going on now is preparation for his turbaning which will take place any momemt from now,” Dantiye stated.
The new emir was later turbaned this afternoon.
The Kano State Government through the Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Rabiu Sulaimon Bichi on Sunday announced Sanusi Lamido Sanusi as the man to succeed the late Ado Bayero.
Meanwhile, about 24 hours after his announcement as the new Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the immediate past Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria is still waiting for the usual congratulatory message from the Aso Rock presidential villa.
Since he became Nigeria’s president over four years ago, President Goodluck Jonathan has never wasted time in sending congratulatory or condolences or messages of felicitations when the need arises.
Such messages, usually signed on his behalf by Reuben Abati, the President’s special adviser on media and publicity usually hit the mails of journalists few hours after the occurrence of the event. Following this tradition, many Nigerians had expected that the President would have sent a message to congratulate the new Emir of Kano.
Well, the congratulatory message had not come as at the time of filing in this story in the afternoon.
It is not certain whether the Presidency will still congratulate Sanusi on his ascension to the throne of his grandfathers before the end of today.
But events in the past 24 hours indicated that the Jonathan administration seemed determined as much as possible to take the shine off the celebration of Sanusi’s coronation as the Emir of Kano.
Last night, the Federal Government grounded a private jet that took Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State and other leaders of the opposition All Progressives Congress, APC, to Kano, disallowing it from flying back to Port Harcourt.
P.M.NEWS gathered this morning that a plane carrying Governor Tanko Al-Makura to Kano Airport was also not given clearance to land by the Commandant of the Airport.
PREMIUM TIMES quoted Major General Chris Olukolade, Director of Defence Information as confirming the ban on flight of private jets to Kano by the military for “security reasons,” the nature of which he failed to explain.
The Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria, FAAN also confirmed that the ban was imposed by the military.
Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, a former minister of Federal Capital Territory and a chieftain of APC said the ban was part of the ongoing persecution of  Sanusi by the Jonathan administration.
“Is Nigeria under military rule or martial law allowing the violation of constitutional rights with such impunity?”  El-Rufai queried on his official Facebook page.
“When will the Jonathanians give up on this hopeless persecution of a good man? For how long will the Jonathanians continue to test the patience of our people and the citizens of Kano with this reckless impunity,” he added.
The relationship between President Jonathan and the former CBN Governor had turned sour few months before the end of his tenure at the apex bank.
This followed the leakage of a letter to the President in which the former CBN Governor accused the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC under the supervision of  Ministry of Petroleum Resources headed by Mrs. Dieziani Madueke of failure to remit over $48 billion realised from crude oil sale into the federation account.
Mrs. Madueke, regarded as the closest Minister to President Jonathan, denied the allegation and in the ensuing controversies, the President booted Sanusi, who was also accused of different allegations of financial impropriety, out of office.
Sanusi’s challenge of the President’s action is still pending in court.
The PDP later issued different statements in which it accused the former CBN Governor of working for the opposition APC.
Thus, when the death of Emir of Kano, Ado Bayero was announced last Friday, many Nigerians had anticipated that the former CBN Governor will not to be the favourite candidate of the Presidency and the PDP for the new position.
This was why the PDP wasted no time in sending a congratulatory message when rumour filtered in yesterday afternoon that the eldest son of the late Emir of Kano, Alhaji Sanusi Lamido Ado Bayero has been appointed as the new Emir of Kano.
The late Bayero is believed to have soft spot for President Jonathan and his son was expected to also follow the same path.
The PDP later withdrew the statement and had not deemed it fit to send another one to Lamido Sanusi.
Apart from the controversial way he was booted out of CBN, the Presidency also believed that Sanusi is too close to the big wigs of the APC and that his ascension to the throne will affect the chances of the ruling party in the 2015 elections.
The situation in Kano was further compounded for the PDP by the fact that the state governor, Malam Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, is a sworn enemy of President  Jonathan and was one of the five governors who decamped from PDP  to the APC in November last year.
 With 5.1 million registered voters, the second highest in the country, Kano is considered strategic to winning the Presidential election in Nigeria because of its voting population.
This, according to sources, was why chieftains of APC stormed Kano over the weekend to do the groundwork that many believed contributed to the emergence of Sanusi as the new Emir.
Sources told P.M.NEWS that the Presidency is still studying developments in Kano, especially in view of the protests that have greeted the announcement of the former CBN Governor as the new Emir and may not be in a hurry to congratulate him.


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