The 14th and 16th Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi 11, has opened up on the crisis bedevilling the Kano traditional stool since his appointment as the 16th Emir of Kano.

Sanusi, a former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), while speaking with Saturday Sun, said the immediate past Governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, bastardised the Kano traditional institution against the wish of the Kano people.

Sanusi said: “You see, this was something created, manufactured by the previous government. The people of Kano never asked to be divided. In parts of this country, you have had emirates and kingdoms created, and you can understand that. If you go to Kaduna State, at one time, you had everything under Zaria. But you had huge Christian minorities, different ethnic groups, and chiefdoms were created for them. It makes sense, if they felt that they did not want to be under the emirate system or under what they saw as a self-denial system. But Kano is a largely homogeneous society. If you see the Christians in Kano, they are part of us. They don’t say they want to leave us. They’re not asking for a different system. Nobody. If you go to Tudun Wada, we have Christians. You go to Rano, we have Christians. We had an issue in Rogo. You may remember that there was an issue. People went and burnt the church. I went there, took out my own personal money and rebuilt the church.

“So, we are one people. Nobody asked for new emirates. What we are dealing with is a situation where somebody divided us. And actually, when you create these things, some people get some privileges. They didn’t ask for it, but they’ve enjoyed it for four years.”

Sanusi however assured that drawing from his experience in the public service, he was going to collaborate with other eminent traditional rulers across the country to move the nation forward. (Saturday Sun, excluding headline)