The coronation of the Emir of Kano which was to hold last week Saturday was reportedly stopped without any official reason.
SUN news is reporting that it is due to security reports of a likely breakdown of law and order in the State should the former Central Bank of Nigeria Governor be officially recognized.
The paper also reported that the Emir’s passport has yet to be released to him by the Department of State Security, thus preventing him from leaving the country.
SUN reports
The coast appears not clear yet for the newly installed Emir of Kano, His Eminence, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi who was crowned Muhammadu Sanusi II, the 14th monarch of the emirate in June as there are indications that the Federal Government might have stopped the planned coronation ceremony of the former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor.
Another sign that all is still not well within the emirate is the refusal of the Department of State Security Service, DSS to release the seized passport of the emir despite his decision to withdraw legal suits instituted against the Federal Government in the courts to quash his suspension from office as CBN governor.
Investigations reveal that the already planned elaborate coronation ceremony was called off following pressures from security agencies warning of a likely breakdown of law and order if the emirate council and the state government go ahead with the programme which was to give official recognition to the installation of the emir.
“We had to alert the state government and the emirate of the danger of going ahead with the ceremony because of grave threats from Boko Haram and some elements opposed to the emergence of Sanusi asemir within the city. This is certainly beyond politics but a serious security issue” a security official told SUN.
Another source within the Kano emirate council, who also confirmed the last minute cancellation of the coronation ceremony, expressed frustration over the development. “It was a last minute decision by all stakeholders given the security reports brought by Abuja people at least in the interest of peace. The most unfortunate part of the whole thing is that some invited guests had to cancel their engagements outside the country including a prominent traditional ruler in Kaduna State to return home last week to attend the function only to be told a few hours to the programme that the ceremony has been cancelled with no specific date in view”, the high ranking chief stated.
While reacting to the well concealed development, a top official of the Kano State government who does not want to be named because of the sensitive nature of the issue, admitted that the ceremony was hurriedly put off because of some issues related to security complications.
“There is no point hiding anything, it is true the ceremony was put off to enable the state government to complete a coronation arena being built within the government house since the palace won’t be ideal for such because of security implications. When completed and a new date fixed, only invited guests will be allowed to attend the function. The state government would not want to leave anything to chances at this critical time”, the source stated.
When asked when the ceremony will now hold, the state official said: “No one can say, at this juncture, when the programme will hold but we are hoping it may be after sallah.”
Efforts to get the DSS spokesperson, Maryln Ogar explain why the security agency was still holding on to Sanusi’s passport proved abortive as she declined to comment when called on the phone on Wednesday. Subsequent calls to her line same day and Thursday went unanswered.
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