The Emir of Kano Muhammadu Sanusi II has ascribed his reinstatement as God’s will, thanking the state government for the “rescue mission”.

Sanusi was reinstated on Thursday and received his appointment letter a day after following Governor Abba Yusuf’s signing of the Kano State Emirate Council (Repeal) Bill 2024 into law.

The move led to his reinstatement four years after the immediate past governor of the North-West state Abdullahi Ganduje deposed him.

At an event to receive the appointment letter from Governor Yusuf, Emir Sanusi said his reinstatement was divine.

“The Arabians used to say that in everything we witness, there is a lesson that shows us that God is there. Whatever happens to an individual is preordained by Allah, and for those who are sensible enough, it’s a lesson. God is one, and whatever He does, nobody can change, and what He doesn’t do, nobody can,” he said at the Government House in Kano on Friday just after he got the letter.

“About 10 years ago, in this same place, former Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso gave me my appointment letter as the Emir of Kano. Today, after 10 years, I am here again receiving a reappointment letter from Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf.

“Time will not permit long talks. Whatever we needed to say, we said when we were leaving. We made it clear that God has preordained the time and cause for everything and everyone. He gives leadership to whom He wants and at the time He wants. When He gives, no one can take it away, and when He takes it away, nobody can bring it back.”

‘Rescue Mission’

He also thanked the governor and members of the Kano State House of Assembly whom he said were on a “rescue mission” by reinstating him.

“My Governor and our assembly members, you will not understand the gravity of what you did for the history of Kano and the country at large. Among Kano Emirs, it started from Bagauda over 1,000 years ago. In these years, there was only once that we had an Emir, Muhammadu Koguna, who was overthrown and came back after some days. This shows that in 1,000 years, there has been no case like what happened now.

“In the northern part of this country, we have seen in different states how politicians have balkanized emirates, with a state with one Emir becoming 20, some 19. In states of northern Nigeria, there are local governments with two or three first-class Emirs, all because the system has been destroyed.

“This thing that has been brought to Kano, had it been allowed, one day we would wake up with Emirs of Kumbotso, Bichi, Fagge, and 44 Emirs. So what the government and the assembly did is a rescue mission.