Barrister Haruna Isa Dederi, the Kano State Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General, has cleared air that the ruling of the Court of Appeal, Abuja division, on the State Emirship tangle did not in anyway invalidate the reinstatement of Muhammadu Sanusi II as the 16th emir of Kano.
Dederi declared that, “having passed a landmark verdict on January 10, 2025, that reaffirmed the power of the Kano State government to reappoint Sanusi, it is impossible for the Court of Appeal to set aside or quash it’s own decision on the same matter.”
The Attorney General made the position known to journalists while reacting to Friday ruling of the Appellate Court on the application for stay of execution filed by Alh. Aminu Baba Dan Agundi, one of the kingmakers loyal to the 15th Emir of Kano, Alh. Aminu Ado Bayero, pending determination of the appeal at the apex court.
According to Dederi, the matter is “functua officio”, adding that only the Supreme Court has the power to set aside the decision of the Appeal Court handed by Justice Mohammad Mustapha on January 10, 2025.
“The Appeal Court today, after hearing their application for a stay of execution, ruled that the status quo should rather be maintained as it is now, until after the judgment of the Supreme Court. The have filed an appeal at the Supreme Court.
“It doesn’t mean that the judgment delivered on January 10, 2025, has been quashed. That judgment is still standing and still in place and subsisting. The Court of Appeal cannot reverse its own decision. It is not possible. It is only a supreme Court that has the power to set aside the judgment given by a lower court,” Dederi noted.
It would be recalled that on January 10, 2025, a three-member panel of Court of Appeal, Abuja division, led by Justice Mohammad Mustapha set aside the judgment of Justice A. Liman of the Federal High Court, Kano, which nullified the steps/actions taken by the Kano State Government pursuant to the Kano State Emirate Council (Repeal) Law 2024, including the appointment of Sanusi Lamido Sanusi as the 16th Emir of Kano.
Dissatisfied with the verdict, DanAgundi had since proceeded to the Supreme Court to upturn the lower court’s verdict.
DanAgundi equally filed a motion for stay of execution of Justice Mustapha’s Judgment pending the hearing and determination of the Supreme Court judgment on the matter.
