There is outrage in Kano following the state government’s directives to the 44 local government councils to release N670 million for the refurbishment and procurement of new luxury vehicles for embattled Emir Muhammadu Sanusi II.
The Kano emirate has been enmeshed in a leadership crisis with Emir Aminu Ado Bayero and Mr Sanusi claiming the right to the more than 1000-year-old throne. Recently, the tussle deepened when Mr Bayero appointed Sanusi Ado Bayero as the new Galadiman Kano shortly after Mr Sanusi appointed Munnir Sanusi to the same position.
The leaked memo
According to the memo dated March 25, 2025, and leaked on social media on May 5, 2025, the N670 million would be deducted from the State/Local Government Joint Account and paid to a private company, Sottom Synergy Resources Ltd.
The leaked memo showed that the company was contracted to supply four vehicles and refurbish two vintage ones for the emir.
The memo, titled: “Conveyance of Approval for the Release of Funds,” was signed by the Director of Local Government Inspection, on behalf of the Commissioner for Local Government Affairs.
“I am directed to convey the Government’s approval for the release of the aggregate sum of N15,227,272.72 per LGA… to repair 2 No. vehicles and supply 4 No.. vehicles to the Kano Emirate Council through Sottom Synergy Resources Ltd,” the letter stated.
The official document went ahead to give the breakdown, as follows: N670 million will cover the refurbishment of a 1969 Rolls-Royce (DH 420), restoration of a Cadillac limousine, and the purchase of four 2024 Toyota Land Cruiser VXR vehicles.
Emir’s car purchase is illegal – CSO
A member of the Kano State Community of Practice (CoP) on budget tracking, Isah Bello, said that how the money is going to be drawn is not in tandem with the budget initially signed.
He said the way the money was sourced contravened the constitutional provisions, thereby making it illegal.
“This should have been captured in the 2025 budget, which I am 100% sure that there was no such thing in the budget. The local governments are entitled to their money, and there is no provision whatsoever to compel them to source those funds. Every responsible government ought to work in the direction of accountability and sustainability patterns,” he said.
According to an official of Civil Society for Justice (CSJ), Umar Saidu, the current Kano state administration has been popular for citizen-oriented project initiatives; therefore, when the memo became public, a lot of questions were asked.
He said many believed that the memo could be fake, hence the state government resolved at the initial stage to remain silent.
He explained that at a point like this, any move in such a direction will be viewed as a plan to extort the public funds without the public’s knowledge and the leaked memo was erroneously made public.
“Some were asking, how could a government that is claiming to be citizen-oriented be so self-centred? Others were asking, “Could this be the government they voted for?” he asked.
Decision ill-conceived, self-centred – Kwankwaso
For Idris Gora, the contents of the memo are so disturbing. “They thought they were smart, they could rob Peter to pay Paul. God has exposed them. People should now understand the kind of leaders they have in Kano. Allah ya Kara tona musu asiri.”
Similarly, Dr Shetima Abdullahi, lecturer at Kano State Polytechnic, said the decision by the state government was poorly conceived and wrongly implemented.
He said what the state needs is an effective and working system that can address the issues of thuggery, phone snatching and other social vices, adding that spending such huge amounts of money on the emirate is uncalled for and ill-conceived.
However, APC chieftain in Kano state and a former commissioner, Musa Ilyasu Kwankwaso, said the move by the Kano state government to spend public funds on the emir is illegal; that is why the state’s government attempted to do it secretly.
Kwankwaso added that the claims that Mr Ganduje did the same hold no water because Ganduje had followed all the necessary administrative procedures to do that, and it was made public and not hidden.
Nothing wrong in buying N670 cars for Sanusi – Official
The state government, however, has defended the decision with its Commissioner for Information Ibrahim Abdullahi Wayya, saying the decision to spend N670 million on the monarch’s cars “is a routine exercise to uplift and protect the emirate’s image.”
In his defence of the car purchase, Mr Wayya, in a radio programme monitored in Kano, said there is no point in trying to make the state government’s move look like the government has done something wrong.
He explained that the Emir of Kano, as a public servant and deserves to be treated as an emir, adding that as a first-class emir, the state government has to provide for him what would protect and promote the emirate and the emirate’s activities.
“It is not as if we are buying these vehicles for the emir as his personal property. People shouldn’t forget that he is a public servant, and every Kano citizen is a stakeholder in these vehicles. Moreover, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau has done it when he bought about 44 Prado jeeps to district heads and also former Kano State Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje had also bought exotic vehicles to the emirates he created. There was a district head whom the state government then bought a bulletproof car, and no one said anything. Therefore, ours is not something different,” he said.
