Former Emir Sanusi May Challenge His Dethronement In Court

Deposed Kano Emir Muhammad Sanusi II has vowed to challenge his dethronement and banishment in court.

His lawyer, Abubakar Mahmoud (SAN), declared this in a briefing few minutes ago in Abuja.

He said the restriction of the Emir’s movement and his dethronement were unlawful and gross violation of his human rights.

Earlier, Reacting on behalf of the deposed Emir, the lawyer of the dethroned ruler, Abubakar Mahmoud (SAN) described the action of the governor as illegal which will be reversed by the court of law.

Mr Mahmoud who stated this in a telephone interview he granted Channels Television Monday evening said his client was yet to take a decision on the next line of action.

We are going to be in touch with him to discuss which line of action to take as his lawyers. And we as lawyers, of course, we believe that this action was illegal and unconstitutional,” he said.

“And more so, the aspect of banishment, under the constitution, nobody can be deprived of his liberty under the manner he has been deprived of his. Nevertheless, we will be in touch with him and hopefully, come up with the next line of action in due course.

The next line of action would obviously depend on the instruction from the Emir. There are two aspects to it – the dethronement and the banishment. We will be consulting with him, I had a meeting with him before he was taken to custody and obviously, at that point, he has not taken a decision on whether he is going to pursue this matter in court or not.

Of course, we will give him time to come up with a decision on his dethronement. But as far as his liberty is concerned, we are very firmly clear that this is an illegal act and we will be considering what line of action to take hopefully when I speak with him.

“An action that is illegal can be reversed by the court of law and that is why we have the written constitution and courts in place. Under the constitution of the country, whenever the executive branch of government takes an action that is unconstitutional or illegal, the courts are there for all citizens to seek redress.

We are confident given the fact of this case that if the Emir was to challenge the action, it would be reversed because the action, in our view, is repressing and illegal,” the Senior Advocate of Nigeria added.