—‘He also plots to kill me’
By Adoyi M. Aba
Governor Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso of Kano state yesterday said the federal government has ordered for the arrest of the new Emir of Kano, Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, and that is why the emir has been staying at the government house instead of at the palace.
The frosty relationship between President Goodluck Jonathan and Kwankwaso deteriorated in late 2013 after the latter defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Sanusi was removed unceremoniously as governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria in February, this year, for blowing the whistle over the alleged disappearance of $20 billion from the accounts of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) domiciled with the CBN.
The Jonathan government had been trying to hurt him for this, including imposing a travel ban, a court case and a National Assembly probe of the allegation.
His emergence on Sunday as emir, after the death of Alhaji Ado Bayero on Friday, further heightened the tension between Jonathan and Kwankwaso.
The Presidency and the PDP had been clearly opposed to Sanusi’s candidacy.
A crisis has been brewing in Kano since Sunday, with armed policemen blocking the gates of the emir’s palace and protesters shouting anti-Sanusi slogans.
The emir has been receiving homage from the Kano royal family, some state governors, and other personalities inside the government house.
Jonathan has yet to congratulate Sanusi even though the PDP did so.
In an interview with a news website, Premium Times, yesterday, Kwankwaso said Sanusi was unable to move to the palace due to a police siege on the building, a development he blamed on the Presidency.
He accused the Presidency of planning to arrest the new Kano emir to stop his appointment as the emir.
“We got information that they were planning to arrest him, so, we moved him to the Government House. I don’t want to imagine what would have happened if they succeeded.”
Alleging that Jonathan was planning to eliminate him, Kwankwaso added that he had “credible information that the president is behind the crisis in Kano state.”
Kwankwaso stressed that Jonathan was after his life and had ordered the removal of half of his security detail.
He said: “I have told my friends, and people of Kano, Nigerians and indeed the international community to hold Jonathan responsible for whatever happens to Kwankwaso, his family or even the people of Kano state.”
He accused the president of igniting the crisis in Kano after Sanusi’s appointment as emir.
Kwankwaso insisted that the president had instructed PDP supporters in Kano to unleash “mayhem” on the state.
He added: “We don’t know his intention, but, certainly, the intention is not good.
“We have to tell him that igniting crisis in Kano is not in the interest of anybody.
“We have enough crisis already in the country, and now they are funding their stooges in Kano to protest and burn government properties.”
He said the president was instigating the crisis “because the state is controlled by the APC.”
“Recently, we also lost an esteemed emir in Gombe and they basically followed the same process to elect a new emir, but they did not say anything because it is a PDP state.
“Now they are funding crisis in our state. I have never seen something like this.”
The governor said his administration and the APC enjoyed overwhelming support in the state and was only bidding their time before reacting to the “intimidation” from the federal government.
He said: “By the recent survey we just had and the local government election we held, we enjoy about 92 per cent support of the population, and the remaining 8 per cent are brewing and supporting crisis.
“There will come a time when this 98 per cent will be on the offensive, which is when they will realise that they are making a mistake.
“A sitting president brewing a crisis in a state like Kano; everybody in this country knows that it is Jonathan that is creating this problem in Kano.
“I am yet to know why, but posterity will clearly show what his intentions are.”
