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| Gov Kwankwaso and Sanusi |
Source Premium Times
The newly-crowned Emir
of Kano, Lamido Sanusi, has shelved his public defiance and begged President
Goodluck Jonathan, personally and through intermediaries, to lift police siege
on his palace and forgive him his trespasses, presidency officials, associates
of some of the intermediaries and sources within the Kano State Government and
the Emir’s
palace have told PREMIUM TIMES.
Police ended the siege late
Thursday, four days after Mr. Sanusi, a former governor of the Central Bank,
emerged monarch of the powerful Kano emirate.
Police authorities deny
neither the blockade nor its lifting was on the instructions of the president.
Mr. Jonathan has been
embroiled in months of acrimony with the former governor of the Central Bank of
Nigeria.
“My men have left the palace
because there is peace now,” Kano State police chief, Aderele Shinaba, told
PREMIUM TIMES Friday. “All the hoodlums that are threatening the palace have
left. All those threatening the place have dispersed.”
He denied acting on the
orders of the presidency.
“I don’t know why people are
saying that,” he said. “As a commissioner of police, I should be able to use my
initiative. That is what I have done. If I can’t use my initiative, it means
something is wrong,” he said. “My own interest is peace and we will continue to
ensure there is peace here.”
But multiple sources,
including presidency insiders, palace sources and others familiar with all that
transpired, have debunked that claim.
They say the siege was
authorised by the president, and was lifted on his orders after Mr. Sanusi
detailed influential Nigerians to intervene on his behalf.
Our sources said behind the
public defiance by the former CBN governor and the Kano State governor, both
men have reached out to Mr. Jonathan to seek a soft-landing.
Mr. Sanusi specifically is
said to have capitulated after it became clear the government might be in
possession of a purported “damning evidences of mismanagement” against him.
PREMIUM TIMES could not
confirm those “evidences” and sources close to the Emir insist the government
has nothing on the Emir.
“He served transparently and
accountably and no one can say he did anything wrong while at the CBN,” an aide
of the monarch said.
But officials well informed
about the matter confirmed to this newspaper that influential mediators
contacted the president on behalf of Mr. Sanusi, and begged him to re-consider
the decision to cordon the palace.
One of the emissaries who
intervened was the minister of defence, Aliyu Gusau.
Despite the efforts, the
officials said, the president only acted after Mr. Sanusi personally spoke to
him on Thursday, and pledged his “loyalty and friendship”.
The president’s principal
secretary, Hassan Tukur, two of our sources said, arranged the communication.
“Sanusi told the president he
was sorry for anything he might have done wrong in the past and asked the
president to consider him henceforth as a friend,” one source said.
The new emir also assured the
president he will not be partisan during his reign, and will not aid the
opposition All Progressives Congress, APC, in any way, the source added.
The officials asked not to be
named as they were not authorised to speak on the matter.
Mr. Sanusi was removed as CBN
head by the president in February after he accused the government of failing to
account for $20 billion oil money.
While investigations into the
allegations were far from completion, the president fired the outspoken former
banker, accusing him of “financial recklessness”.
Mr. Sanusi’s appointment as
emir Sunday, clearly opposed by the presidency and the ruling People’s
Democratic Party, PDP, revved up months of rancour between Mr. Jonathan, the
former CBN chief, and Kano State governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso.
The Kano’s traditional stool
is considered key ahead of the 2015 elections, given the state’s population and
influence.
Police took over the
sprawling palace in Kano city shortly after Mr. Sanusi was declared the emir,
claiming the move was necessary to stop looters and arsonists angered by the
emergence of the new emir.
Police however denied barring
the new emir from accessing the facility, and also denied acting on the
instructions of the president.
But speaking to PREMIUM TIMES
Wednesday, Governor Kwankwaso said the police acted on the orders of the
president to arrest Mr. Sanusi, and accused Mr. Jonathan of plotting to
eliminate him.
Presidency has not responded to those claims.
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