Appeal Court stays actions on Bayero-Sanusi tussle, urges parties to await Supreme Court’s judgement

From Desmond Mgboh, Kano

The Court of Appeal, sitting in Abuja, has stayed the actions it earlier delivered regarding the reinstatement of Muhammadu Sanusi II as the 16th Emir of Kano.

The court, taking cognisance of the transmission of the case record to the Supreme Court, directed all interested parties to exercise caution pending the hearing of their appeals at the Apex Court.

In a unanimous ruling delivered on Tuesday in Abuja by a three-member panel of justices, and read by Justice Biobele Abraham Georgewill, the Appeal Court stayed the actions following the transmission of the record of appeal to the Supreme Court.

During the resumed hearing on the enforcement of its earlier orders, counsel to the Kano State Government, Barrister Ibrahim Wangida, informed the court of a notice of appeal already filed against its stay of execution order dated Friday, 14th March 2025.

Barrister Wangida told the court that all necessary legal actions had been perfected, including the transmission of the record to the Supreme Court.

He argued that the transmission of the record of appeal to the Supreme Court automatically operates as a stay of actions on the ruling of the Court of Appeal of 14th March 2025.

On Friday, 14th March 2025, Justice Abang had ordered a stay of execution of its earlier judgement that validated the reinstatement of Muhammadu Sanusi II as the 16th Emir of Kano.

The judge had also ordered all parties to maintain the status quo ante bellum as it was before the trial court’s judgement delivered on 13th June 2024 in suit no. FHC/KN/CS/182/2024.

However, dissatisfied with the orders of the Appeal Court, Wangida faulted the ruling, describing it as a gross error in light of the provisions of the Constitution.

It may be recalled that the Kano State Government had reinstated Muhammadu Sanusi II as the 16th Emir of Kano pursuant to the Kano State Emirate Council (Repeal) Law 2024.

The same law sacked Aminu Ado Bayero as the 15th Emir, alongside the four first-class emirs of Bichi and Rano emirates, among others.