IN a split ruling of two justices to one, the Court of Appeal in Abuja has prohibited the Federal High Court in Kano from hearing the legal dispute regarding the Kano Emirate.
The appellate court determined that the Federal High Court lacks jurisdiction over matters related to the Kano State Chieftaincy, stating that such issues must be resolved by the Kano High Court.
Justice Gabriel Kolawole, who rendered the leading judgment, affirmed that the Federal High Court should not be involved in chieftaincy disputes and ordered the case to be sent back to the Kano State High Court as the appropriate venue for these matters.
Presiding Justice Mustapha Mohammed and another justice concurred with Justice Kolawole regarding the Federal High Court’s lack of jurisdiction in the Kano Emirate case.
However, they disagreed on the return of the case to the Kano Chief Judge for reassignment to a State High Court judge. Instead, the two justices ruled that the case should be struck out entirely rather than remitted.
As a result, they dismissed the Federal High Court proceedings, citing its initial lack of jurisdiction over the issue.
In May 2024, Governor Abba Yusuf reinstated Sanusi Lamido Sanusi II, a former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), as the Emir of Kano.
This reinstatement followed the Kano State House of Assembly’s passage of a new law that abolished the four additional emirates established under a 2019 law by former Governor Abdullahi Ganduje.
The new law restored Sanusi Lamido as the Emir of Kano.
The 2019 law, which was amended following a dispute between Ganduje and Sanusi, had divided the Kano Emirate into five regions: Rano, Karaye, Gaya, and Bichi, and allowed for the appointment of first-class emirs for these new emirates, leading to Sanusi’s deposition.
