Police Withdrawn From Emir’s Palace In Kano

The police contingent brought in from Jigawa State and Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, to complement their colleagues in the ancient city of Kano were today abruptly withdrawn from the palace of the newly installed Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi. The police officers had laid siege on the palace since Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso of Kano State appointed Mr. Sanusi, the ousted Central Bank Governor, as the successor to Emir of Kano, Ado Bayero, who died last week at 84.

In addition to the police siege, the Federal Government had also announced through the Nigerian army that it had closed the Kano airspace to private jet traffic. A senior security operative in Abuja confirmed to SaharaReporters that the deployment of police as well as closure of the airspace in Kano were part of a plan by the government of President Goodluck Jonathan to arrest Mr. Sanusi and charge him with "defrauding" the Central Bank of Nigeria during his five-year tenure at the apex bank.

Mr. Jonathan had fired Sanusi in February weeks after the Central banker sent a letter to the president suggesting that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) had failed to deposit more than $20 billion in crude oil export revenues. Mr. Sanusi’s letter was leaked to the press, sending shock waves through the international finance market.

The security source who spoke to us disclosed that the Jonathan administration had decided to halt its plan to arrest the new Emir. “The security reports submitted by those on ground did not favor making that kind of move [arresting Mr. Sanusi] at this time,” he said.

Even so, a senior official of the Kano State government told SaharaReporters that the state government was not taking chances despite the withdrawal of the police. The official stated that the state government had decided to have Mr. Sanusi remain at the Government Lodge where he has stayed since his appointment as emir. “He will conduct the Jummaa’t prayers at the Government House Mosque tomorrow,” the source added. Several Islamic scholars in the city are expected to attend the prayers.

The Kano State official stated that the withdrawal of police personnel from the palace could be a ploy by the Jonathan administration to lure Mr. Sanusi out of his present safe haven of the Government House in Kano. The source said Mr. Sanusi would move into the palace only when the government of Kano was confident of his safety and security “to reign as the Emir of Kano.”

A political source in Abuja also told SaharaReporters that the withdrawal of policemen owed partly to moves by some northern figures to resolve the hostility between President Jonathan and the new Emir.