Appeal Court Returns Kano Emirate Case To Supreme Court

The Court of Appeal, in Abuja has directed all interested parties in the Kano Emirship tussle, to exercise caution pending the hearing of their appeals at the Supreme Court.

The appellate court also stayed actions previously delivered against the reinstatement of Muhammadu Sanusi II as the 16th Emir of Kano.

In a unanimous ruling delivered by a three-member panel of justices, led by Justice Biobele Georgewill, the court upheld the withdrawal of the application filed by the Kano State Government after the transmission of the record of appeal to the Supreme Court.

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 validated the removal of Aminu Ado Bayero as the 15th Emir, along with four first-class emirs appointed by the former governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje.

Meanwhile, on Friday, March 14, 2025, Justice Okon Abang in a ruling ordered a stay of execution of the Appeal Court’s earlier judgment validating the reinstatement of Muhammadu Sanusi II as the 16th Emir of Kano.

The judge also ordered all parties to maintain the status quo ante bellum as well as the sheriff of the court and trial court, preserving the position as it was before the trial court’s decision delivered on 13 June 2024.

Dissatisfied with Justice Abang’s ruling, the respondents faulted the ruling, describing it as a gross misinterpretation of constitutional provisions, noting that an appeal had already been filed at the apex court.

Responding to the notice of application, counsel for the appellant, Abdul Fagge, SAN, who did not oppose the notice, told the court that the respondents acted within constitutional provisions.

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

Wangida stated that all necessary legal actions had been completed, including the transmission of the record to the Supreme Court.

The transmission of the record of appeal to the Supreme Court, by implication and as established by judicial precedent, operates as a stay of any action on the ruling of the Court of Appeal of March 14, 2025.

Upon his submission, the court ordered parties to exercise caution pending the hearing of their appeals before the Supreme Court.