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Kano Emirate Dispute: Court Of Appeal Upholds Status Quo Pending Supreme Court Decision
The Court of Appeal has ordered all parties to maintain the status quo in the ongoing Kano Emirate dispute, effectively halting the reinstatement of Muhammadu Sanusi II as Emir of Kano until the Supreme Court delivers its judgment.
The Emirate has been embroiled in a legal tussle following the state’s legislative actions affecting its traditional leadership. In 2024, the Kano State Government enacted the Kano State Emirate Council (Repeal) Law 2024, which led to significant changes in the emirate’s structure, including the reinstatement of Muhammadu Sanusi II as the 16th Emir of Kano.
On June 20, 2024, the Federal High Court in Kano, presided over by Justice Abubakar Liman, nullified the actions taken by the Kano State Government under the 2024 law.
Subsequently, on January 10, 2025, the Court of Appeal overturned the Federal High Court’s decision, asserting that the lower court lacked jurisdiction over chieftaincy matters, which are typically under the purview of state high courts. This appellate decision reinstated the 2024 law and, by extension, Sanusi’s position as Emir.
Dissatisfied with the appellate court’s judgment, Alhaji Aminu Babba Dan Agundi, a prominent kingmaker, filed an appeal to the Supreme Court. He also sought an injunction to prevent the enforcement of the January 10 judgment pending the Supreme Court’s decision. On March 14, 2025, a three-member panel of the Court of Appeal, led by Justice Okon Abang, granted this injunction.
The court ordered all parties to maintain the status quo as it existed before the Federal High Court’s June 2024 ruling, effectively halting Sanusi’s reinstatement until the Supreme Court adjudicates the matter.
The police command in Lagos State has detained two suspects ages 27 and 32 for alleged armed robbery.
The command’s spokesperson, CSP Benjamin Hundeyin, confirmed the arrest to newsmen in Lagos on Saturday.
He said that the suspects were apprehended on Friday at 4:00 a.m. at Sangotedo, Lekki-Epe Expressway.
“The police on early morning patrol apprehended the two suspects.
“One automatic pistol and five live ammunition were recovered, ” the spokesperson said.
According to him, the suspects are currently undergoing interrogation for possible prosecution.
The Minister of Works, Sen. Dave Umahi, on Saturday clarified that he never said former President Olusegun Obasanjo should not use the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway when completed.
Umahi made the clarification during an inspection tour of the highway project in Lagos.
He reacted to some comments to the effect that he said Obasanjo should not use the road for describing the highway project as wasteful.
“The point is that the former president is not only my former president, he is also my father and he is my in-law; so, I have my respect for him.
“ I never said the former president should not use the road.
“He is not the only one among the few criticising the road project.
“ I said, ‘If you say the road is not good, you have a choice to use it or not to use it.’
“That is what I said. I didn’t say the former president should not use the road,” Umahi told journalists during the inspection tour.
The minister said that the 700km road project was never wasteful but a vital investment with huge socio-economic benefits.
“If you say the project is wasteful, it is an ambiguous statement. Is it wasteful in the sense that it shouldn’t have been?
“Is it wasteful in the sense that we are going to be earning carbon credit from the concrete pavement and from solar light?
“Is it wasteful in the sense that along this corridor, we are going to have windmill energy connecting all the communities we are going through?
“Is it wasteful that it is from Lagos to Calabar? Well, we have the Sokoto-Badagry Highway project, which is 1,068km,” he asked.
The minister added that the Federal Government was executing a 462km Akwanga-Jos-Bauchi- Gombe Road project, among other projects.
“ Why then single out this one to say that it is wasteful?”
He said that travelling from Lagos to Calabar through the highway would take only five hours, reducing travel time.
“It is an evacuation corridor; so, the amount that the Federal Government spends in doing transhipment will be saved.”
Umahi said that in the next six months, section one of the highway project would be completed.
“Is it wasteful in the sense that this road is going to be passing a number of existing roads?
“Is it wasteful in the sense that the Bua Refinery, this is passing through it?
“Is it wasteful that it is going to be an evacuation corridor for Dangote Refinery?
“I cannot see the sense in saying that it is wasteful,” he added.
Umahi also said that the project had nothing to do with corruption.
He said that Obasanjo praised his administration’s transparency and achievements when he was the Governor of Ebonyi.
“He is my father. If a father suddenly says that his son is corrupt, it is up to the son to say he is not corrupt.” (NAN)
Airstrikes by the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) aircrafts have killed two bandits kingpins, Gero (Alhaji) and Alhaji Riga, including 20 of their fighters in Zamfara State.
The bandits were killed in their hideouts at Unguwar Goga hillforest in Faskari Local Government Area of the state.
A statement by the Deputy Director of Public Relations and Information, Group Captain Kabiru Ali, said the “precision airstrikes were executed in the early hours of March 13, after careful and actionable intelligence.”
The statement said: “ The strike, advancing purposeful lethality, destroyed the fortified camps of notorious bandit kingpins, Gero (Alhaji) and Alhaji Riga, neutralising over 20 criminals, with additional casualties reported in the surrounding rocky hills.
“The airstrike had a decisive impact on the criminals, assessment of the full extent of the damage is ongoing.”
Riga and Gero, according to the statement, were key enablers of banditry, sheltering terrorist elements responsible for relentless ambushes along the Funtua-Gusau road, particularly between Yankara and Sheme villages. Their elimination marks a major breakthrough in the ongoing military campaign to restore peace in the North-West,” the statement said.