The Kano State government has reaffirmed that the Court of Appeal’s ruling in Abuja has not overturned the reinstatement of Muhammadu Sanusi II as the 16th Emir of Kano. The state’s Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Haruna Isa Dederi, stated that the judgment delivered on January 10, 2025, remains valid and cannot be reversed by the same court.
Dederi clarified this while addressing journalists about the recent ruling by the Court of Appeal regarding an application for a stay of execution. The application was filed by Alhaji Aminu Baba Dan Agundi, a kingmaker loyal to the 15th Emir of Kano, Alhaji Aminu Ado Bayero. The appeal seeks to challenge Sanusi’s reappointment at the Supreme Court.
Dederi noted that the case is now beyond the Court of Appeal’s jurisdiction, explaining that only the Supreme Court has the authority to overturn the earlier decision. “The Appeal Court today, after hearing their application for a stay of execution, ruled that the status quo should rather be maintained as it is now, until after the judgment of the Supreme Court. They have filed an appeal at the Supreme Court,” he stated.
He further stressed that the ruling does not nullify the previous decision made by the Court of Appeal. “It doesn’t mean that the judgment delivered on January 10, 2025, has been quashed. That judgment is still standing and still in place and subsisting. The Court of Appeal cannot reverse its own decision. It is not possible. It is only a Supreme Court that has the power to set aside the judgment given by a lower court,” Dederi noted.
The legal battle over the Kano Emirship has been ongoing since the Kano State government repealed the Emirate Council Law in 2024, which led to the removal of Ado Bayero and the reinstatement of Sanusi. On January 10, 2025, a three-member panel of the Court of Appeal, led by Justice Mohammad Mustapha, overturned an earlier judgment by the Federal High Court in Kano, which had nullified the government’s actions.
Unhappy with the ruling, Dan Agundi escalated the matter to the Supreme Court, seeking to overturn the appeal court’s verdict. He also filed a motion to halt the execution of the January 10 judgment until the Supreme Court gives its final decision.
