Renowned constitutional lawyer, Professor Auwalu Yadudu, has declared that the ruling on Kano emirate crisis was not helpful for the judicial process
He made the declaration in an interview with the Daily Trust, adding that the judge was contracting himself on the same issue of jurisdiction.
Describing the ruling as “strange and baffling”, Yadudu noted that the judge has “muddled up the case, and it is very unbecoming of a judge who has now been elevated to the Court of Appeal”.
Yadudu said the ruling was unbecoming, “how can you say the actions taken pursuant to a law are set aside, and then say you are not delving into the validity of the said law?” he queried.
According to him, the judge had more or less held that he lacked jurisdiction on the issue by transferring the case to another judge, but still went ahead to set aside the governor’s actions.
He explained that the ex-parte order should no longer subsist because it is being challenged at the Appeal Court, and the judge himself admitted knowledge of this by granting a stay of proceedings and also deciding not to grant an order to nullify the law.
“All these are avoidable. It is not helpful for the judicial process. It is strange and doesn’t speak well of the judge. The question of whether the governor’s actions came before and after the ex parte order is a question of fact or evidence. It seems from the record that the order came after.”
A Federal High Court in Kano, presided over by Justice Abdullahi Muhammad Liman had, on Thursday, ruled on the suits filed before him over the Kano Emirate crisis.
A Kano kingmaker in the former emirate, Aminu Babba Danagundi, the Sarkin Dawaki Babba, had contested the propriety of the repealed Kano Council Law which Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf used to remove the 15th Emir of Kano, Alhaji Aminu Ado Bayero, and reversed the status of the emirs of Bichi, Rano, Gaya, and Karaye emirates to that of district heads, following the collapse of their emirates into Kano Emirate.
Based on the law, the governor had also re-appointed the 14th Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammadu Sanusi II, as the 16th Emir of Kano.
Danagundi had asked the court, through his counsel, Chikaosolu Ojukwu (SAN), to declare the law null and void, which court acceded to, by stating, however, that its ruling did not affect the validity of the Kano Emirates Council (Repeal) Bill 2024, which was passed by the Kano State House of Assembly.
The development had dashed hopes that the simmering disagreement over the most appropriate claimant to the throne of the Emir of Kano would end.
